There is one chain of circumstances which is almost peculiar—­that of the line from New York to San Francisco.  Here I would have two clocks at every station:  those on the north side all shewing San Francisco time, and those on the south all shewing New York time.  Every traveller’s watch would then be available to the end of his journey.

A system, fundamentally such as I have sketched, would give little trouble, and may I think be adopted with advantage.

I am, Sir,
Your faithful servant,
G.B.  AIRY.

Mr Edward Barrington.

1882

He returned from Playford on Jan. 17:  his other movements during the year were as follows:  from Apr. 27th to May 11th he was at Playford; and again from August 1st to 24th.  From Oct. 9th to Nov. 1st he was travelling with his two unmarried daughters in the Lake District of Cumberland:  the journey was by Furness and Coniston to Portinscale near Keswick; on Oct. 13th he fell and sprained his ankle, and his excursions for the rest of the time were mainly conducted by driving.  Shortly after his return, on Nov. 11th, while walking alone on Blackheath, he was seized with a violent attack of illness, and lay helpless for some time before he was found and brought home:  he seems however to have recovered to a great extent in the course of a day or two, and continued his Lunar Theory and other work as before.  On June 22nd he made the following sad note, “This morning, died after a most painful illness my much-loved daughter-in-law, Anna Airy, daughter of Professor Listing of Goettingen, wife of my eldest son Wilfrid.”  In February he wrote out his reminiscences of the village of Playford during his boyhood.

In June he was much disturbed in mind on hearing of some important alterations made by the Astronomer Royal in the Collimators of the Transit Circle, and some correspondence ensued on the subject.—­During the year he had much correspondence on the subject of the subsidences on Blackheath.

The following letter was written in reply to a gentleman who had asked whether it could be ascertained by calculation how long it is since the Glacial Period existed: 

1882, July 4.

SIR,

I should have much pleasure in fully answering your questions of July 3 if I were able to do so:  but the subject really is very obscure.

(1) Though it is recognized that the glacial period (or periods) is late, I do not think that any one has ventured to fix upon a rude number of years since elapsed.

(2) We have no reason to think that the mean distance of the earth from the sun has sensibly altered.  There have been changes in the eccentricity of the orbit (making the earth’s distance from the sun less in one month and greater in the opposite month), but I do not perceive that this would explain glaciers.

(3) I consider it to be certain that the whole surface of the earth, at a very distant period, was very hot, that it has cooled gradually, and (theoretically and imperceptibly) is cooling still.  The glaciers must be later than these hot times, and later than our last consolidated strata:  but this is nearly all that I can say.