xlvii 



in 1831. In 1835, Count Cancrien, the Minister of Finance, at Kupffer's 

 suggestion, consented to the establishment of small magnetic observatories 

 at Catherinenburg, Barnaul, Nertschinsk, Sitka, and Helsingfors, subse- 

 quently at Tiflis and Moscow, and lastly at Pekin, The observations for 

 the years 1835-1846 were published in the ' Annuaire magnetique et 

 meteorologique du corps des Ingenieurs des mines de Russie/ All these 

 observatories were placed in 1843 under the direction of a central institu- 

 tion, the Physical Observatory of St. Petersburg, where the various obser- 

 vations were reduced and edited, and magnetical and meteorological instru- 

 ments were kept for the use of members of scientific expeditions. Kupffer 

 was placed at the head of this establishment, and ceased to lecture, in 

 order that he might devote all his energies to the duties of his new office. 

 The collected observations for the years 1847-1858 have been pubhshed in 

 the * Annales de I'Observatoire physique central de Russie.' During the 

 latter years of his life he was actively engaged in establishing telegraphic 

 communication with foreign observatories, for the purpose of giving storm- 

 signals at stations on the coasts of the Russian empire. 



In 1841 he edited an account of the labours of a Commission, of which 

 he was a member, appointed to fix the standards of measure and weight of 

 the Russian empire. Besides comparing the standards of Russia with those 

 of many other countries, the commissioners redetermined the weight of a 

 given volume of water, one of the most important constants of nature, with 

 a precision, in all probability, hitherto unequalled. 



The first volume of his researches on the elasticity of metals (Etude 

 experimental de la flexion et des oscillations transversaies des lames elas- 

 tiques) was pubhshed in 1860. The second volume, containing experi- 

 ments on metals produced in the Russian furnaces, and the third, on the 

 elasticity of torsion and rotatory oscillation, are, it is believed, still un- 

 published. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 

 1846. 



A chill, caused by exposure to cold while superintending the erection of 

 a self-recording anemometer on the roof of the Physical Observatory, 

 brought on an attack of typhoid fever, of which he died on the 4th of June 

 1865. 



