482 



Report of the Kew Committee. 



range has been constructed to be used as a standard spirit ther- 

 mometer for comparison with the hydrogen thermometer of the 

 International Office of Weights and Measures at temperatures 

 ranging from zero to about —70° C. 



Prepared photographic paper has been procured and supplied to 

 the Observatories at Aberdeen, Batavia, Colaba, Falmouth, Lisbon, 

 Mauritius, St. Petersburg, and Stonyhurst, as well as to the Meteoro- 

 logical Office. 



Anemograph sheets have been sent to Mauritius, and blank forms 

 for entry of observations, &c, distributed to various applicants. 



Old Mural Quadrant. — The Department of Science and Art having 

 accepted the old mural quadrant for exhibition in the science collec- 

 tion at South Kensington, application was made to the Governors of 

 the Armagh Observatory for the -telescope and object glass belonging 

 to the instrument, which had been found by Dr. Dreyer in the Armagh 

 collection of astronomical apparatus, forwarded to that Observatory 

 at the time of the abolition of the King's Observatory at Kew in 

 1840. The Committee's request having been acceded to, the missing 

 parts were duly received at Kew and forwarded to the Museum 

 Galleries at South Kensington. 



Exhibition. — The Committee contributed to the annual exhibition 

 of the Royal Meteorological Society, held in March (19-22), several 

 actinometers, solar radiation thermometers, and photometers. 



Library. — During the year the library has received as presents the 

 publications of — 



29 Scientific Societies and Institutions of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, and 



81 Foreign and Colonial Scientific Establishments, as well as 

 numerous private individuals ; 



The Librarian has been engaged for some time in the preparation of 

 a card catalogue of the library, on the model of that of the Meteoro- 

 logical Office, and has now completed over 1,100 cards, which contain 

 the titles, &c, of all works received by the Committee during the 

 past seven years, together with those of a like title which had been 

 received previously. 



The publications not yet catalogued formed part of Sir E. Sabine's 

 Magnetic Office collection, and are chiefly excerpts from foreign 

 publications and reports. They have generally but little interest, 

 and are being examined with the view of binding such as the 

 Observatory does not possess in other forms, and disposing of the 

 duplicates. 



Workshop. — The machine tools procured for the use of the Kew 

 Observatory by grants from the Government Grant Fund or the 

 Donation Fund have been duly kept in order. 



