1844

“In the course of 1843 I had put in hand the engraving of the drawings of the Northumberland Telescope at Cambridge Observatory, and wrote the description for letterpress.  In the course of 1844 the work was completed, and the books were bound and distributed.

“The building to receive the Altazimuth Instrument was erected in the course of the year; during the construction a foreman fell into the foundation pit and broke his leg, of which accident he died.  This is the only accident that I have known at the Observatory.—­The Electrometer Mast and sliding frame were erected near the Magnetic Observatory.—­The six-year Catalogue of 1439 stars was finished; this work had been in progress during the last few years.—­In May I went to Woolwich to correct the compasses of the ‘Dover,’ a small iron steamer carrying mails between Dover and Ostend:  this I believe was the first iron ship possessed by the Admiralty.—­The Lunar Reductions were making good progress; 16 computers were employed upon them.  I made application for printing them and the required sum (L1000) was granted by the Treasury.—­In this year commenced that remarkable movement which led to the discovery of Neptune.  On Feb. 13th Prof.  Challis introduced Mr Adams to me by letter.  On Feb. 15th I sent my observed places of Uranus, which were wanted.  On June 19th I also sent places to Mr E. Bouvard.—­As regards the National Standards, Mr Baily (who undertook the comparisons relating to standards of length) died soon, and Mr Sheepshanks then undertook the work.—­I attended the meeting of the British Association held at York (principally in compliment to the President, Dr Peacock), and gave an oral account of my work on Irish Tides.—­At the Oxford Commemoration in June, the honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred on M. Struve and on me, and then a demand was made on each of us for L6. 6s. for fees.  We were much disgusted and refused to pay it, and I wrote angrily to Dr Wynter, the Vice-Chancellor.  The fees were ultimately paid out of the University Chest.

“In this year the longitude of Altona was determined by M. Struve for the Russian Government.  For this purpose it was essential that facilities should be given for landing chronometers at Greenwich.  But the consent of the customhouse authorities had first to be obtained, and this required a good deal of negotiation.  Ultimately the determination was completed in the most satisfactory manner.  The chronometers, forty-two in number, crossed the German Sea sixteen times.  The transit observers were twice interchanged, in order to eliminate not only their Personal Equation, but also the gradual change of Personal Equation.  On Sept. 30th Otto Struve formally wrote his thanks for assistance rendered.