--In this year the White House was sold by auction by
its owners, and Airy purchased it on May 24th.--He was still in
difficulties with his private accounts, but was making efforts to
abandon his old and elaborate system.--For his amusement he was
chiefly engaged on Theological Notes which he was compiling: and also
on early optical investigations, &c.
On June 1st he attended the Visitation of the Royal Observatory, and
moved a resolution that a Committee be appointed to consider whether
any reduction can be effected in the amount of matter printed in the
Volume of Observations of the Royal Observatory. During his tenure of
office he had on various occasions brought this subject before the
Board of Visitors, and with his usual tenacity of purpose he now as
Visitor pressed it upon their notice.--In May he zealously joined with
others in an application to get for Dr Huggins a pension on the Civil
List.--In January he prepared a short Paper illustrated with diagrams
to exhibit the Interference of Solar Light, as used by him in his
Lectures at Cambridge in 1836: but it does not appear to have been
published.--In April he received a copy of a Paper by Mr Rundell,
referring to the complete adoption of his system of compass correction
in iron ships, not only in the merchant service, but also in the
Navy.
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