done by others, notably E.W. Brown in the United States, M. Radau in France, and P.H. Cowell in Britain, who received the credit. In 1907 Nevill related this sad history in his presidential address to Section A of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Other scientific work Nevill's other astronomical work included the accurate determination of the observatory's latitude and longitude, first for astronomical purposes and then for the geodetic survey of southern Africa, and regular transit observations for the provision of time signals. A larger collaborative project, carried out from 1886 to 1896, involved the comparison of the declination of stars based on observations made in the northern and southern hemispheres. During his early years in Natal, under the name E.N. Neison, he published a popular book entitled Astronomy: a simple introduction to a noble science (London, 1886). He also made a study of ancient eclipses, on which he read a paper at the joint meeting of the British and South African Associations for the Advancement of Science in 1905. In addition to the regular meteorological observations made at the observatory the staff was responsible also for analysing and publishing meteorological observations made elsewhere in Natal. Thus by 1900 there were 31 stations that submitted their observations to the observatory on a monthly basis. In 1908 Nevill wrote an article on the rainfall in Natal for the Natal Agricultural Journal, in which he identified an 18-year rainfall cycle. Rendell also published a paper on the rainfall at Durban in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society in 1906. The staff also analysed tidal observations made during 1884–1888 and compiled tidal tables for Durban Harbour. By 1903, these had still not been printed and by that time the entrance to the harbour had changed so much that more recent tidal observations needed to be analysed, for which there were no funds. From 1893 daily observations of the magnetic declination were made at the observatory. In November 1887 Nevill was appointed also as Government Chemist and Official Assayer for Natal, which further reduced the time available for astronomical research. His chemical work was mainly of a routine nature and included analyses of geological samples for gold and other metals, analyses of soil samples for agricultural purposes, the examination of high explosives and detonators, and toxicological investigations. Closure of the observatory Following the formation of the Union of