xli REPORT—1868. 
Mr. De La Rue has recently received a letter from M. Struve, m which it 
is stated that the arrival at Kew of M. Berg, of the Wilna Observatory, in 
order to practise with the Photoheliograph, may he shortly expected. 
5. Apparatus for Verifying Sextants——Several determinations have been 
made of the angular distances between the collimators of this instrument ; 
but the result appears to indicate a greater want of fixedness in these than 
is desirable. Should, however, the apparatus come to be extensively employed 
for the verification of sextants, this may be overcome by means of frequent 
determinations of these angular distances by a theodolite. 
6. Miscellaneous Work.—The time and attention of the Observatory Staff 
have been so much absorbed during the last year with the regular work of 
the Observatory, that little or no progress has been made in miscellaneous 
experiments. 
The instrument devised by Mr. Broun for the purpose of estimating the 
magnetic dip by means of soft iron, remains at present at the Observatory, 
awaiting Mr. Broun’s return to England. 
The Superintendent has received grants from the Royal Society for special 
experiments; and when these are completed, an account will be rendered to 
that Society. 
(B) Worx pove at Kew as tHe CenTraL OBSERVATORY OF THE 
MerxoroLocicaL ComMIrTEe. 
This work may be divided into four heads, the first of these being the arrange- 
ment of self-recording meteorological instruments, their verification at Kew, 
and erection at the various stations ; the second being the arrangement of a 
system of tabulating from the automatic records of these instruments; the 
third being the arrangement of a system by means of which the continued 
accuracy of the instruments themselves, and of their tabulated records, may 
be secured; while the fourth is the work done at Kew as being itself one 
of the Observatories of the Meteorological Committee. 
1. Arrangement, Verification, and Erection of Self-recording Instruments —In 
the last Report of this Committee a short account was given of the principles 
of construction of the system of self-recording meteorological instruments 
arranged at Kew, comprising the Thermograph, Barograph, and Anemograph. 
A more detailed account has since been given by the Meteorological Com- 
mittee in their Report to Parliament for the year 1867, and it is therefore 
unnecessary to enter here into the subject. It ought, however, to be men- 
tioned that the principle adopted in these instruments is to check the accuracy 
of their automatic records by means of reference to standards; and with this 
view the Kew Committee have constructed a Standard Wet and Dry Bulb 
Thermometer for each Thermograph, and has verified a Standard Barometer 
for each Barograph. When the various self-recording instruments had been 
completed by the opticians, they were sent to Kew, where they were ex- 
amined and verified. They were then dispatched to their respective sta- 
tions in charge of the observer, who had been previously instructed at Kew ; 
and finally, Mr. Beckley, Mechanical Assistant at Kew, went to the various 
stations and superintended the erection of the instruments. By his aid this 
was accomplished in a very thorough and satisfactory manner. 
2. System of Tabulation.—It is not proposed to discuss here the system of 
tabulation. This has already been done, to a certain extent, in the Report of 
the Meteorological Committee presented to Parliament; and the whole sub- 
ject will, it is hoped, be fully treated of on some future occasion. Suffice 
: 
