(just floated) for examination of her compasses, and lent him instruments:  very valuable results were obtained.  Mr Archibald Smith had edited Scoresby’s Voyage in the Royal Charter, with an introduction very offensive to me:  I replied fully in the Athenaeum of Nov. 7th.—­The Sale of Gas Act:  An Act of Parliament promoted by private members of the House of Commons had been passed, without the knowledge or recollection of the Government.  It imposed on the Government various duties about the preparation of Standards.  Suddenly, at the very expiration of the time allowed this came to the knowledge of Government.  On Oct. 1st Lord Monteagle applied to me for assistance.  On Oct. 15th and 22nd I wrote to Mr Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, and received authority to ask for the assistance of Prof.  W.H.  Miller.—­I made an examination of Mr Ball’s eyes (long-sighted and short-sighted I think).—­In February I made an Analysis of the Cambridge Tripos Examination, which I communicated to some Cambridge residents.”  In a letter on this subject to one of his Cambridge friends Airy gives his opinion as follows:  “I have looked very carefully over the Examination Papers, and think them on the whole very bad.  They are utterly perverted by the insane love of Problems, and by the foolish importance given to wholly useless parts of Algebraical Geometry.  For the sake of these, every Physical Subject and every useful application of pure mathematics are cut down or not mentioned.”  This led to much discussion at Cambridge.  In this year the Smith’s Prizes were awarded to the 4th and 6th Wranglers.

Of private history:  “On Apr. 29th Mrs Smith (my wife’s mother) died at Brampton.—­From July 4th to Aug. 2nd I was in France (Auvergne and the Vivarais) with my two eldest sons.  Maclear travelled with us to Paris.—­On Dec. 23rd I went to Playford.”—­Antiquities and historical questions connected with military movements had a very great attraction for Airy.  On his return from the expedition in France above-mentioned, he engaged in considerable correspondence with military authorities regarding points connected with the battle of Toulouse.  And in this year also he had much correspondence with the Duke of Northumberland concerning his Map of the Roman Wall, and the military points relating to the same.

1860

“In June Mr Main accepted the office of Radcliffe Observer at Oxford (Mr Johnson having died) and resigned the First Assistancy at Greenwich:  in October Mr Stone was appointed First Assistant.—­At an adjourned Meeting of the Visitors on June 18th there were very heavy discussions on Hansen’s merits, and about the grant to him.  Papers were read from Sir J. Lubbock, Babbage, South, Whewell, and me.  Finally it was recommended to the Government to grant L1000 to Hansen, which was paid to him.—­In the Report to the Board of Visitors the following remark occurs:  ’The apparent existence of a discordance between the results of