Wednesday August 1, 1894

M^r Deslandres & Comte de la Baume Pluvinel came to see the Observatory and M. Deslandres showed some of his photographs of solar chromosphere (faculæ). M. Pluvinel left two positives of the Eclipse of 1893 at Joal.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... Deslandres and the Comte de la Baume Pluvinel were well-known figures in French astronomy, working on spectroscopy and photography. In previous decades it was felt that there was little place for these novelties in established national observatories such as Greenwich and Paris and alternative sites were set up, including the Solar Physics Observatory in South Kensington (1878) and Meudon Observatory outside Paris (1875). But it's clear that these were areas in which Christie hope to enhance the reputation of Greenwich, as his New Physical Observatory attests.