I made enquiries, and on Mar. 13th wrote to Mr Wood, alluding
also generally to the want of a National English standard after the
destruction of the Houses of Parliament. On Apr. 24th the Admiralty
sanctioned my procuring proper Standard Bars.--In connection with the
Cavendish Experiment, I have an immense quantity of correspondence
with Mr Baily, and all the mathematics were furnished by me: the
experiment was not finished at the end of the year.--The Perturbations
of Uranus were now attracting attention. I had had some correspondence
on this subject with Dr Hussey in 1834, and in 1837 with Eugene
Bouvard. On Feb. 24th, of 1838, I wrote to Schumacher regarding the
error in the tabular radius-vector of Uranus, which my mode of
reducing the observations enabled me to see.
"The National Standards of Length and Weight had been destroyed in the
fire of the Houses of Parliament. On May 11th I received a letter from
Mr Spring Rice, requesting me to act (as chairman) with a committee
consisting of F. Baily, J.E. Drinkwater Bethune, Davies Gilbert,
J.G.S. Lefevre, J.W. Lubbock, G. Peacock, and R. Sheepshanks, to
report on the steps now to be taken. I accepted the charge, and the
first meeting was held at the Observatory on May 22nd; all subsequent
meetings in London, usually in the apartments of the Royal
Astronomical Society.
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