The President of the Royal Society is also ex officio an honorary

Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

OTHER PUBLIC FUNCTIONS PERFORMED BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

1. Government Grant for Scientific Investigations.-Administrators. For the History of this Grant see p. 158; for the Regulations see Year-book,' p. 74.

2. Kew Observatory.-Lessees under the Crown and Trustees of an endowment by the late J. P. Gassiot for the purposes of the Observatory. (See p. 137.)

3. Lawes Agricultural Trust.-Electors of four members of the Managing Committee. (See p. 155.)

4. Meteorological Council.-Nominators.

The Council is the official descendant of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, the history of which is given in the Report by the Committee of Inquiry nominated by the Royal Society, the Board of Trade, and the Admiralty respectively, which was printed and presented to Parliament in 1866. This Department was superseded in 1867 by the Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society. In 1877 the Committee transferred their charge to the Meteorological Council as now constituted, The Council is a paid body, and consists of a chairman and four members, nominated by the President and Council of the Royal Society, and approved by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, with the Hydrographer of the Admiralty as an official member. The following are the present

members:

Lieut.-General Strachey, R.E., F.R.S. (Chairman).

Mr. Alexander Buchan.

Professor G. H. Darwin, F.R.S.

Mr. F. Galton, F.R.S.

Admiral W. J. L. Wharton, F.R.S., Hydrographer of the Admiralty.
Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S. (Secretary).

5. Physick Garden of Chelsea.

The history of the early connection of the Physick Garden with the Royal Society will be found at p. 153. At present the Society has only a reversionary interest in the garden.

6. Royal Observatory, Greenwich.-Visitors.

The Royal Society were appointed visitors and directors in 1710, a function which they continued to perform until the accession of King William IV, when, by the new warrant then issued, the President and six of the Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society were added to the list. The following constitute the existing Board of Visitors :

The President of the Royal Society-Lord Lister.

The President of the Royal Astronomical Society-Dr. A. A. Common.
Professor W. G. Adams.

Rev. Professor B. Price.

Nominated as Fellows of the Royal Lord Rayleigh.

Society

Eari of Rosse.

Professor Rücker.

Professor Sir G. G. Stokes, Bart.

Professor Sir R. S. Ball.

Professor R. B. Clifton.

Nominated as Fellows of the Royal Dr. A. A. Common.

Astronomical Society

Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher.
Dr. W. Huggins.

Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford-Professor H. H. Turner.
Plumian Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge-Professor G. H. Darwin.
Hydrographer of the Admiralty-Admiral W. J. L. Wharton.

7. Standard Weights and Measures.- Custodians.

The Imperial Standard Yard and Pound in actual use for all important comparisons are at the Standards Office. Four copies of each of them are deposited in other places in case of injury or loss of the standards. One of each of these copies is in the custody of the Royal Society.

DESCRIPTION OF THE KEW OBSERVATORY.

The Kew Observatory is situated in the Old Deer Park, about 1,200 yards from the Richmond Railway Station, some 10 miles to the West of the City of London. Its latitude is 51° 28′ 6′′ N., and its longitude 0° 18′ 47′′ W.

The present building was erected by King George III, in 1769, for observing the transit of Venus, which occurred that year. An earlier observatory, from which it derived its name, was situated in the Kew Palace Grounds, about three-quarters of a mile from the present building. Though the latter lies within the postal district of Richmond, and is approached from the Richmond railway station, its long-established name of "Kew" Observatory has been retained. The site of the present building was originally occupied by an old monastery, which was partly destroyed in the general destruction of religious houses in the sixteenth century, and finally demolished in 1769.

The Government having decided in 1841 to cease to maintain the Observatory, it passed in 1842 into the hands of the British Associa

tion for the Advancement of Science, who continued to manage it through a committee until 1871.

Mr. J. P. Gassiot, then Chairman of the British Association Committee for the management of the Observatory, having put in trust with the Royal Society an endowment of £10,000 for the purposes of the Observatory, the management was in that year transferred to the Royal Society, under whose control it has remained, and since that date the Kew Committee has consisted entirely of Fellows of the Society appointed by the Council. The following is a list of members since 1871, the names of the present committee being distinguished by asterisks:

*Captain W. de W. Abney, C.B.; *Prof. W. G. Adams; *Captain E. W. Creak, R.N.; Captain Sir F. Evans, K.C.B.; *Prof. G. Carey Foster; Mr. F. Galton, (Chairman since 1888); Mr. J. P. Gassiot; Lieutenant-General Sir J. H. Lefroy, K.C.M.G.; *Prof. J. Perry; Admiral Sir G. H. Richards, K.C.B.; *The Earl of Rosse, K.P. *Prof. A. W. Rücker; Mr. de la Rue (Chairman, 1883-1888) General Sir E. Sabine (Chairman 1871-83); *Mr. R. H. Scott; *Mr. W. N. Shaw; Major-General W. J. Smythe; Mr. Spottiswoode; *Lt.-General R. Strachey, C.S.I.; Mr. E. Walker; General J. T. Walker, C.B.; *Rear-Admiral W. J. L. W

.B.; Sir

es

Wheatstone. The staff employed at the Observatory has increased from eight in 1871 to fifteen in 1896.

The chief executive officer under the Committee is styled "Superintendent," the present occupant of the post being Dr. C. Chree. The previous superintendents under the Royal Society's Committee were Mr. S. Jeffery, 1871-76, and Mr. G. M. Whipple, 1876-93. Amongst those who held the post prior to 1871 may be mentioned Sir Francis Ronalds, Mr. John Welsh, and Prof. Balfour Stewart. In addition to the general management of the Observatory, the duties of the Superintendent include the response to inquiries on various · scientific matters from Government Departments, especially the Meteorological Office, as well as from individuals engaged in scientific pursuits.

The relations between the Observatory and the Meteorological Office have been very close ever since 1867, as the Observatory has since that date acted as the central observing station for that Office.

DESCRIPTION OF OBSERVATORY.

BASEMENT (see plan No. I).

Magnetograph Room.-This room contains the Magnetographs (1), which were erected in their present form by Mr. Welsh in 1856. The instruments show variations in the Declination, Horizontal Force Component, and Vertical Force Component. Light from fixed gas jets is reflected from mirrors attached to the magnets on to photographic paper. The paper is wound round drums driven by clock-work, and thus a continuous record is obtained of variations either in the direction or intensity of the earth's magnetic force (B.A. Report,' 1859, pp. 200-228).

The magnetograph curves are standardised by means of direct observations on the strength of the magnets, made from time to time, and the employment of the results of the absolute observations, carried out weekly in a wooden hut (1, Plan II) situated in the garden.

The Barograph (2) is a modified form of that originally designed by Ronalds. A beam of light passes through the chink left between a horizontal stop and the surface of the mercury in the tube of a barometer, and falls upon photographic paper. When the mercury rises in the barometer tube, the beam of light is narrowed, and the trace correspondingly reduced in width, the reverse happening, of course, when the mercury falls ('Report of the Meteorological Committee,' 1867, p. 40).

Photographic Room.-This immediately adjoins the magnetograph room, see Plan I.