(suggested by the fall of the bridge at Chester).  Lord Auckland objected to it, and I was not sorry to be spared the trouble of it.—­In December I was requested, and undertook to prepare the Astronomical part of the Scientific Manual for Naval Officers.—­On Sept. 24th occurred a very remarkable Magnetic Storm, to which there had been nothing comparable before.  Mr Glaisher had it observed by eye extremely well, and I printed and circulated a paper concerning it.—­Hansen, stimulated by the Lunar Reductions, discovered two long inequalities in the motion of the Moon, produced by the action of Venus.  In the Report to the Visitors this matter is thus referred to:  ’In the last summer I had the pleasure of visiting Prof.  Hansen at Gotha, and I was so fortunate as to exhibit to him the corrections of the elements from these Reductions, and strongly to call his attention to their certainty, the peculiarity of their fluctuations, and the necessity of seeking for some physical explanation.  I have much pleasure in indulging in the thought, that it was mainly owing to this representation that Prof.  Hansen undertook that quest, which has terminated in the discovery of his two new lunar inequalities, the most remarkable discovery, I think, in Physical Astronomy.’—­In discussing points relating to the discovery of Neptune, I made an unfortunate blunder.  In a paper hastily sent to the Athenaeum (Feb. 18th) I said that Arago’s conduct had been indelicate.  I perceived instantly that I had used a wrong expression, and by the very next post I sent an altered expression.  This altered expression was not received in time, and the original expression was printed, to my great sorrow.  I could not then apologize.  But at what appeared to be the first opportunity, in December, I did apologize; and my apology was accepted.  But I think that Arago was never again so cordial as before.—­On July 4th Hebe was discovered.  After this Iris and Flora.  Now commenced that train of discoveries which has added more than 100 planets to the Solar System.—­On Oct. 8th was an Annular Eclipse of the Sun, of which the limit of annularity passed near to Greenwich.  To determine the exact place, I equipped observatories at Hayes, Lewisham South End, Lewisham Village, Blackwall, Stratford, Walthamstow, and Chingford.  The weather was bad and no observation was obtained.—­In the Royal Astronomical Society:  In 1846, the dispute between the partisans of Adams and Le Verrier was so violent that no medal could be awarded to either.  In 1847 I (with other Fellows of the Society) promoted a special Meeting for considering such a modification of the bye-laws that for this occasion only it might be permissible to give two medals.  After two days’ stormy discussion, it was rejected.—­In the University of London:  At a meeting in July, where the religious question was discussed, it was proposed to receive some testimonial from affiliated bodies, or to consider that or some other plan for introducing religious