It is easy to see, then, that observing, though the first duty of the Observatory, makes the smallest demand on its time. The visitor who comes to the Observatory by day (and none are permitted to do so by night) finds the official rooms not unlike those of Somerset House or Whitehall, and its occupants for the most part similarly engaged in what is, apparently, merely clerical work. An examination of the big folios would of course show that instead of being ledgers of sales of stamps, or income-tax schedules, they referred to stars, planets, and sun-spots; but for one person actively engaged at a telescope, the visitor would see a dozen writing or computing at a desk. The staff, like the building, is the result of a gradual development, and bears traces of its life history in its composition. First comes the Astronomer Royal, the representative and successor of the original 'King's Astronomer,' the Rev. John Flamsteed. But the 'single surly and clumsy labourer,' which was all that the 'Merry Monarch' could grant for his assistance, is now represented by a large and complex body of workers; each varied class and rank of which is a relic of some stage in the progress of the Observatory to its present condition. The following extract from the Annual Report of the Astronomer Royal to the Board of Visitors, June, 1900, describes the present _personnel_ of the establishment:-- 'The staff at the present time is thus constituted, the names in each class being arranged in alphabetical order:-- 'Chief assistants--Mr. Cowell, Mr. Dyson. 'Assistants--Mr. Hollis, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Maunder, Mr. Nash, Mr. Thackeray. 'Second-class assistants--Mr. Bryant, Mr. Crommelin. 'Clerical assistant--Mr. Outhwaite. 'Established computers--Mr. Bowyer, Mr. Davidson, Mr. Edney, Mr. Furner, Mr. Rendell, and one vacancy. 'The two second-class assistants will be replaced by higher grade established computers as vacancies occur.