week in January, and in all important points it is now finished.”—­“In the late spring, some alarm was occasioned by the discovery that the Parliamentary Standard of the Pound Weight had become coated with an extraneous substance produced by the decomposition of the lining of the case in which it was preserved.  It was decided immediately to compare it with the three Parliamentary Copies, of which that at the Observatory is one.  The National Standard was found to be entirely uninjured.”—­“On November 16 of last year, the Transit Instrument narrowly escaped serious injury from an accident.  The plate chain which carries the large western counterpoise broke.  The counterpoise fell upon the pier, destroying the massive gun-metal wheels of the lifting machinery, but was prevented from falling further by the iron stay of the gas-burner flue.”—­“The Prismatic Spectrum-Apparatus had been completed in 1863.  Achromatic object-glasses are placed on both sides of the prism, so that each pencil of light through the prism consists of parallel rays; and breadth is given to the spectrum by a cylindrical lens.  The spectral lines are seen straighter than before, and generally it is believed that their definition is improved.”—­“For observation of the small planets, a convention has been made with M. Le Verrier.  From new moon to full moon, all the small planets visible to 13h are observed at the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.  From full moon to new moon, all are observed at the Imperial Observatory of Paris.  The relief gained in this way is very considerable.”—­“In determining the variations in the power of the horizontal-force and vertical-force magnets depending on temperature, it was found by experiment that this depended materially on whether the magnet was heated by air or by water, and ’The result of these experiments (with air) is to give a coefficient for temperature correction four or five times as great as that given by the water-heatings,’”—­“With regard to the discordances of the results of observations of dip-needles, experiments had been made with needles whose breadth was in the plane passing through the axis of rotation, and it appeared that the means of extreme discordances were, for an ordinary needle 11’ 45”, and for a flat needle 3’ 27",” and the Report continues thus:  “After this I need not say that I consider it certain that the small probable errors which have been attributed to ordinary needles are a pure delusion.”—­The Report states that in the various operations connected with the trials and repairs of chronometers, and the system of time-signals transmitted to various time-balls and clocks, about one-fourth of the strength of the Observatory is employed, and it continues thus:  “Viewing the close dependence of Nautical Astronomy upon accurate knowledge of time, there is perhaps no department of the Observatory which answers more completely to the original utilitarian intentions of the Founder of the Royal Observatory.”—­“With regard to the proposal of time-signals at the Start