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.
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