stic way (p. 207). "Prince
Albert was present, as [a] guest of Sir William Middleton; I was engaged
to meet him at dinner, but when I found that the dinner day was one of
the principal soiree days, I broke off the engagement." In 1871 Airy was
chosen President of the Royal Society. He wrote to a friend (p. 293):
"The election . . . is flattering, and has brought to me the friendly
remembrance of many persons; but in its material and laborious
connections, I could well have dispensed with it, and should have done so
but for the respectful way in which it was pressed on me." He resigned
the Presidency in 1873 (p. 303), giving his reasons as follows:--"The
severity of official duties, which seem to increase, while vigour to
discharge them does not increase; and the distance of my residence. . . .
Another reason is a difficulty of hearing, which unfits me for effective
action as Chairman of the Council."

It is quite beyond my powers to estimate the value of Airy's work as
Astronomer Royal; I therefore quote from Schuster and Shipley's
_Britain's Heritage of Science_, p. 165:--"In astronomy he proved himself
to be equally eminent as an administrator and investigator. He
introduced revolutionary reforms in the practice of observatories by
insisting on a rapid reduction and publication of all observations.
After his appointment as Astronomer Royal, he set to work at once to
reduce the series of observations of planets which had accumulated during
eighty years without any use having been made of them. This was followed
up by a similar reduction of 8000 lunar observations. He was equally
energetic in adding to the instrumental equipment. When Greenwich was
first founded, the longitude determination at sea depended to a great
extent on measuring the distance between stars and the moon. Hence
accurate tables of the position of the moon were essential, and the
preparation of these tables has always been considered to be the chief
care of Greenwich. The observations were made with a transit telescope
which could only be used when the moon was passing the meridian, until
Airy in 1843 persuaded the Board of Visitors to take steps for
constructing a new instrument which would enable him to observe the moon
in any position. In 1847 this instrument was at work, and other
important additions to the equipment were made as occasion arose. . . .

"Among his theoretical investigations in pure astronomy, one of the most
important