the Treasury assent to L10,500.  On August 9th I had purchased 3 equatoreals.—­I have given a short course of Lectures in the University of Cambridge on the subject of Magnetism, with the view of introducing that important physical science into the studies of the University.  The want of books available to Students, and the novelty of the subject, made the preparation more laborious than the duration of the lectures would seem to imply.”—­In this year there was much work on the Standards Commission, chiefly regarding the suggested abolition of Troy Weight, and several Papers on the subject were prepared by Airy.—­He also wrote a long and careful description of the Great Equatoreal at Greenwich.

Of private history:  There was the usual visit to Playford in the winter.  Mrs Airy was now becoming feebler, and did not now leave Greenwich:  since April of this year her letters were written in pencil, and with difficulty, but she still made great efforts to keep up the accustomed correspondence.—­In April Airy went to Cambridge to deliver his lectures on magnetism to the undergraduates:  the following passage occurs in one of his letters at this time:  “I have a mighty attendance (there were 147 names on my board yesterday), and, though the room is large with plenty of benches, I have been obliged to bring in some chairs.  The men are exceedingly attentive, and when I look up I am quite struck to see the number of faces staring into mine.  I go at 12, and find men at the room copying from my big papers:  I lecture from 1 to 2, and stop till after 3, and through the last hour some men are talking to me and others are copying from the papers; and I usually leave some men still at work.  The men applaud and shew their respect very gracefully.  There are present some two or three persons who attended my former lectures, and they say that I lecture exactly as I did formerly.  One of my attendants is a man that they say cannot, from years and infirmity and habit, be induced to go anywhere else:  Dr Archdall, the Master of Emmanuel.  I find that some of my old lecturing habits come again on me.  I drink a great deal of cold water, and am very glad to go to bed early.”—­From June 10th-30th he was travelling in Scotland, and staying at Barrow House near Keswick (the residence of Mr Langton), with his son Hubert.—­Subsequently, from Aug. 17th to 31st, he was again in the Lake District, with his daughter Christabel, and was joined there by his son Hubert on the 24th.  The first part of the time was spent at Tarn Bank, near Carlisle, the residence of Mr Isaac Fletcher, M.P.  From thence he made several expeditions, especially to Barrow in Furness and Seascale, where he witnessed with great interest the Bessemer process of making steel.  From Barrow House he made continual excursions among the Cumberland mountains, which he knew so well.

1870