who take observations daily at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Throughout the Empire observations are being made by officers of the Royal Engineers and of the Army Medical Department, among them being Sir Charles Warren, whose pictures of the phases of the moon taken at Gibraltar, are religiously preserved. For the convenience of observers of all nations, an international code exists, so that when the observations are entered up they are as intelligible to a Russian or a Frenchman as to an Englishman. The chief work of the Land Department, however, naturally lies within England itself, where it has been very thorough. For years back they can tell one what happened at any particular place near one of their observatories on any particular day. In Victoria-street there is a continuous record of barometrical pressure, of how fast the wind blew, of how much rain fell, and of how much sunshine we enjoyed.
Having now gleaned some idea of the Central Office and its work, we will take a trip to Richmond, and make a hurried inspection of the Kew Observatory. It is convenient to take Kew, because here is to be seen all that is to be seen elsewhere and much more. Kew Observatory does several things besides take notes of the atmosphere. It tests watches, chronometers, telescopes, binoculars, &c., and issues certificates with them. One of our pictures shows a man at work engraving the Kew Observatory monogram on Admiralty binoculars, which have successfully stood the tests applied. Kew Observatory also has a history. It is built on the ruins of a monastery, and is really a Royal Palace, devoted to its present purpose during the Sovereign's pleasure. George III. had a laboratory here, and always took great interest in the observations made from this spot. Before he lost his reason he himself often made observations of the sun passing the meridian, by which the clocks at the Houses of Parliament and the Horse Guards in Whitehall used to be regulated. The present Observatory was erected by his command in order that the transit of Venus in 1769 might be watched.
Solar observations with the photoheliograph.
Of the thousands of people who go to Kew and Richmond every week, few probably know of the existence of the Observatory, and, when they see it for the first time, either from the river or across a park three-quarters of a mile long, are surprised to find that it does not stand on an elevation. Ben Nevis seems to the ordinary mind a much more appropriate spot for an observatory than a flat field by the river side. Ben Nevis, among British observatories, is an exceptionally interesting and suggestive place. The mountain itself is the highest in the British Isles. The Observatory, of which, through the courtesy of Mr. R. T. Omond, the superintendent, we are able to give two excellent pictures, is, it should be said, not under the Meteorological Office, but copies of its observations are sent to London regularly in return for an annual grant. When, a few years ago, it was decided to build the Observatory, a public appeal was made for subscriptions, and the widespread interest taken in meteorology is shown by the fact that the sums sent in ranged from 1d. up to £200. Our illustrations afford some idea of the sort of duty the observer on Ben Nevis has to face. For several months of the year the Observatory is, except for the electric wire, entirely cut off from the outer world, and has to be provisioned against the long siege maintained by the elements. One winter, the road up to the top was for six weeks absolutely impassable. In February, 1884, the weather was so bad that the outside instruments had to be studied by two observers lashed together, whilst storms have been so severe at times that observations have been quite out of the question. At other times, Nature seems anxious to compensate the watchers
