XV 



in his report to the Astronomical Society, Mr. Airy said it was im- 

 possible to see the changes in their aspect without feeling the con- 

 eviction that they belonged to the Sun and not to the Moon. Still 

 many doubted, but in 1860 the observed angular displacements and 

 velocities of displacements of these red appearances as the Moon's disc 

 passed over the Sun proved decisively that they belonged to the 

 latter body. On the expedition to Spain, the Astronomer Royal was 

 accompanied by a large body of observers ; some were trained astro- 

 nomers, the others amateurs. All did good service, there was much 

 work to be done and it was well done. The Government placed the 

 large steamer " Himalaya " at the disposal of the party to carry them 

 to and from their destination, and in conferences on the deck of that 

 ship the different classes of observation were divided amongst those 

 present. All the details of the organisation of the expedition rested 

 in great measure on the Astronomer Royal, and in his report to the 

 Board of Visitors in 1861 he pronounced the enterprise to have been 

 very successful. In his lecture to the Astronomical Society he 

 remarked that it would be advantageous to collect from the various 

 accounts, first, all the facts which relate to one part of the pheno- 

 mena, secondly, those which relate to another, and so on ; and, 

 finally, to arrange these in separate chapters in order that a systematic 

 comparison might be made. In the forty-first volume of the Memoirs 

 of the Astronomical Society, edited by Mr. Ranyard, these compari- 

 sons are published, and occupy 792 pages. The mere titles of the 

 chapters are sufficient to show the importance and interest of the 

 work. 



At the meeting of the British Association at Manchester in 1860, 

 Mr. Airy delivered a lecture on the solar eclipse of that year to an 

 assembly of perhaps 3000 persons. The writer of this sketch re- 

 members the great Free Trade Hall crowded to excess with an 

 immense audience whose attention and interest, notwithstanding a 

 weak voice, he was able to retain to the very end of the lecture. 

 This lecture he repeated at Cambridge, as the Rede Lecture, in 1864, 

 where it was again w T ell received. It was afterwards translated into 

 Dutch by D. Bierens de Haan about 1877. The charm of Professor 

 Airy's lectures lay in the clearness of his explanations. The subjects 

 also of his lectures were generally those to which his attention had 

 been turned by other causes, so that he had much that was new to 

 tell. His manner was slightly hesitating, and he used frequent re- 

 petitions, which, perhaps, were necessary from the newness of the 

 ideas. As the lecturer proceeded, his hearers forgot these imper- 

 fections and found their whole attention ri vetted to the subject 

 matter. On many occasions Mr. Airy has given successful lectures. 

 In March, 1848, he delivered six lectures at Ipswich on Astronomy, 

 which were first taken down by shorthand writers and, after correc- 



