Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy

by George Biddell Airy

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The extract concerning his visit to the Pumping-Engines at Haarlem is as follows:

LEYDEN,
1851, August 20, Wednesday.

I went to see the great North Holland Canal, and went a mile or two in a horse-drawn-boat upon it: a very comfortable conveyance. Saw windmills used for sawing timber and other purposes, as well as some for grinding and many for draining. Yesterday at half-past one I went by railway to Haarlem. I did not look at anything in the town except going through it and seeing that it is a curious fantastic place, but I drove at once to the burgomaster to ask permission to visit one of the three great pumping engines for draining the immense Haarlem lake, and then drove to it. Imagine a round tower with a steam-cylinder in its center; and the piston which works up-and-down, instead of working one great beam as they usually do, works eight, poking out on different sides of the round tower, and each driving a pump 6 feet in diameter. I am glad to have seen it. Then by railway here.

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1852

"Galvanic communication was now established with Lewisham station (thus giving power of communicating with London, Deal, &c.).—From the Report to the Board of Visitors it appears that, in the case of the Transit Circle, the azimuth of the Instrument as determined by opposite passages of the Pole Star had varied four seconds; and in the case of the Altazimuth, there was a discordance in the azimuthal zeros of the Instrument, as determined from observations of stars. In both cases it was concluded that the discordances arose from small movements of the ground.—Under the head of 'General Remarks' in the Report, the following paragraph occurs: 'It will be perceived that the number of equatoreal observations made here at present is small: and that they are rarely directed to new comets and similar objects which sometimes excite considerable interest. This omission is intentional. It is not because the instrumental means are wanting (for our Equatoreals, though not comparable to those of either Cambridge, or of Pulkowa, are fully equal to those usually directed to such objects), but it is because these observations are most abundantly supplied from other observatories, public and private, and because the gain to those observations from our taking a part in them would, probably, be far less than the loss to the important class of observations which we can otherwise follow so well. Moreover, I am unwilling to take any step which could be interpreted as attempting to deprive the local and private observatories of honours which they have so nobly earned. And, finally, in this act of abstinence, I am desirous of giving an example of adhesion to one principle which, I am confident, might be extensively followed with great advantage to astronomy:—the principle of division of labour.'—Discoveries of small planets were now not infrequent: but the only one of interest to me is Melpomene, for the following reason. On 1852 June 24 I lost my most dear, amiable, clever daughter Elizabeth: she died at Southampton, two days after landing from Madeira. On that evening Mr Hind discovered the planet; and he requested me to give a name. I remembered Horace's 'Praecipe lugubres cantus, Melpomene,' and Cowley's 'I called the buskin'd muse Melpomene and told her what sad story I would write,' and suggested Melpomene, or Penthos: Melpomene was adopted.—The first move about the Deal Time Ball was in a letter from Commander Baldock to the Admiralty, suggesting that a Time Ball, dropped by galvanic current from Greenwich, should be attached to one of the South Foreland Lighthouses. The Admiralty sent this for my Report. I went to the place, and I suggested in reply (Nov. 15th) that a better place would be at an old signal station on the chalk downs. The decisive change from this was made in 1853.—As the result of my examination and enquiries into the subject of sympathetic clocks, I established 8 sympathetic clocks in the Royal Observatory, one of which outside the entrance gate had a large dial with Shepherd's name as Patentee. Exception was taken to this by the solicitor of a Mr Bain who had busied himself about galvanic clocks. After much correspondence I agreed to remove Shepherd's name till Bain had legally established his claim. This however was never done: and in 1853 Shepherd's name was restored.—In Nov. 1851, Denison had consented to join me in the preparation of the Westminster Clock. In Feb. 1852 we began to have little disagreements. However on Apr. 6th I was going to Madeira, and requested him to act with full powers from me.—I communicated to the Royal Society my Paper on the Eclipses of Agathocles, Thales, and Xerxes.—In the British Association, I had presided at the Ipswich Meeting in 1851, and according to custom I ought to attend at the 1852 Meeting (held at Belfast) to resign my office. But I was broken in spirit by the death of my daughter, and the thing generally was beyond my willing enterprise. I requested Sir Roderick Murchison to act generally for me: which he did, as I understood, very gracefully.—In this year a proposal was made by the Government for shifting all the Meeting Rooms of the Scientific Societies to Kensington Gore, which was stoutly resisted by all, and was finally abandoned."

Of private history: "I was at Playford in January, and went thence to Chester on the enquiry about the tides of the Dee; and made excursions to Halton Castle and to Holyhead.—From Apr. 8th to May 14th I was on the voyage to and from Madeira, and on a short visit to my wife and daughter there.—On June 23rd I went to Southampton to meet my wife and daughter just landed from Madeira: on June 24th my dear daughter Elizabeth died: she was buried at Playford on June 29th.—I was at Playford also in July and December.—From Sept. 16th to 24th I went to Cumberland, viâ Fleetwood and Peel."

1853

"On May 3rd 1853 I issued an address to the individual Members of the Board of Visitors, proposing the extension of the Lunar Reductions from 1830. From this it appears that 'Through the whole period (from 1830 to 1853), the places of the Moon, deduced from the observations, are compared with the places computed in the Nautical Almanac: that is, with Burckhardt's tables, which have been used for many years in computing the places of the Nautical Almanac…….Very lately, however, Mr Adams has shewn that Burckhardt's Parallax is erroneous in formula and is numerically incorrect, sometimes to the amount of seven seconds. In consequence of this, every reduction of the Observations of the Moon, from 1830 to the present time, is sensibly erroneous. And the error is of such a nature that it is not easy, in general, to introduce its correction by any simple process…. The number of observations to the end of 1851 (after which time the parallax will be corrected in the current reductions) is about 2560. An expense approaching to £400 might be incurred in their reduction.' Subsequently I made application to the Admiralty, and the £400 was granted on Dec. 12th.—In the Report to the Visitors it is stated that with regard to the Transit Circle, changes are under contemplation in its reflection-apparatus: one of these changes relates to the material of the trough. 'Several years ago, when I was at Hamburgh, my revered friend Prof. Schumacher exhibited to me the pacifying effect of a copper dish whose surface had been previously amalgamated with quicksilver…….The Rev. Charles Pritchard has lately given much attention to this curious property of the metals, and has brought the practical operation of amalgamation to great perfection. Still it is not without difficulty, on account of a singular crystallization of the amalgam.'—With regard to the Chronograph, the Report states: 'The Barrel Apparatus for the American method of observing transits is not yet brought into use…. I have, however, brought it to such a state that I am beginning to try whether the Barrel moves with sufficient uniformity to be itself used as the Transit Clock. This, if perfectly secured, would be a very great convenience, but I am not very sanguine on that point.'—A change had been made in the Electrometer-apparatus: 'A wire for the collection of atmospheric electricity is now stretched from a chimney on the north-west angle of the leads of the Octagon Room to the Electrometer pole…. There appears to be no doubt that a greater amount of electricity is collected by this apparatus than by that formerly in use.'—As regards the Magnetical Observations: 'The Visitors at their last Meeting, expressed a wish that some attempt should be made to proceed further in the reduction or digest of the magnetical results, if any satisfactory plan could be devised. I cannot say that I have yet satisfied myself on the propriety of any special plan that I have examined…. I must, however, confess that, in viewing the capricious forms of the photographic curves, my mind is entirely bewildered, and I sometimes doubt the possibility of extracting from them anything whatever which can be considered trustworthy.'—Great progress had been made with the distribution of time. 'The same Normal Clock maintains in sympathetic movement the large clock at the entrance gate, two other clocks in the Observatory, and a clock at the London Bridge Terminus of the South-Eastern Railway…. It sends galvanic signals every day along all the principal railways diverging from London. It drops the Greenwich Ball, and the Ball on the Offices of the Electric Telegraph Company in the Strand;… All these various effects are produced without sensible error of time; and I cannot but feel a satisfaction in thinking that the Royal Observatory is thus quietly contributing to the punctuality of business through a large portion of this busy country. I have the satisfaction of stating to the Visitors that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have decided on the erection of a Time-Signal Ball at Deal, for the use of the shipping in the Downs, to be dropped every day by a galvanic current from the Royal Observatory. The construction of the apparatus is entrusted to me. Probably there is no roadstead in the world in which the knowledge of true time is so important.'—The Report includes an account of the determination of the Longitude of Cambridge Observatory by means of galvanic signals, which appear to have been perfectly successful.—Under the head of General Remarks the following passage appears: 'The system of combining the labour of unattached computers with that of attached Assistants tends materially to strengthen our powers in everything relating to computation. We find also, among the young persons who are engaged merely to serve as computers, a most laudable ambition to distinguish themselves as observers; and thus we are always prepared to undertake any observations which may be required, although necessarily by an expenditure of strength which would usually be employed on some other work.'—Considerable work was undertaken in preparing a new set of maps of our buildings and grounds.—On Apr. 23rd there was a small fire in the magnetic observatory, which did little mischief.—In December I wrote my description of the Transit Circle.—Lieut. Stratford, the Editor of the Nautical Almanac, died, and there was some competition for the office. I was willing to take it at a low rate, for the addition to my salary: Mr Main—and I think Mr Glaisher—were desirous of exchanging to it: Prof. Adams was anxious for it. The Admiralty made the excellent choice of Mr Hind.—In October Faraday and I, at Lothbury, witnessed some remarkable experiments by Mr Latimer Clark on a galvanic current carried four times to and from Manchester by subterranean wires (more than 2000 miles) shewing the retardation of visible currents (at their maximum effect) and the concentration of active power. I made investigations of the velocity of the Galvanic Current.—I was engaged on the preliminary enquiries and arrangements for the Deal Time Ball.—With respect to the Westminster Clock; an angry paper was issued by Mr Vulliamy. In October I expostulated with Denison about his conduct towards Sir Charles Barry: on November 7th I resigned.—On Feb. 11th I was elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society.—In the Royal Institution I lectured on the Ancient Eclipses.—On Dec. 15th I was elected to the Academy of Brussels.—After preliminary correspondence with Sir W. Molesworth (First Commissioner of Works, &c.) and Sir Charles Barry (Architect of the Westminster Palace), I wrote, on May 14th, to Mr Gladstone about depositing the four Parliamentary Copies of Standards, at the Royal Observatory, the Royal Mint, the Royal Society, and within a wall of Westminster Palace. Mr Gladstone assented on June 23rd.—On Mar. 26th I wrote to Mr Gladstone, proposing to take advantage of the new copper coinage for introducing the decimal system. I was always strenuous about preserving the Pound Sterling. On May 10th I attended the Committee of the House of Commons on decimal coinage: and in May and September I wrote letters to the Athenaeum on decimal coinage.—I had always something on hand about Tides. A special subject now was, the cry about intercepting the tidal waters of the Tyne by the formation of the Jarrow Docks, in Jarrow Slake; which fear I considered to be ridiculous."