Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/227

Rh and the stations organised by Sabine in many British colonies, multiplied examples of the relationship of auroræ and disturbances in the three elements of terrestrial magnetism, viz., declination, inclination, and intensity. These observations showed at the same time the extreme complexity of the subject. Some of the most interesting observations that have been made actually within the Polar Regions are those of Weyprecht, in the Tegetthof expedition to Franz Josef Land. Weyprecht noted that during these disturbances the declination needle was displaced towards the east, and that the horizontal intensity was diminished and the vertical intensity increased. Curiously, Parry near Melville Island and Port Bowen, not far from the Magnetic Pole, never recorded any relationship between displays of the Aurora Borealis and the movements of the magnetic needle. Ross, on the other hand, obtained opposite results in the same region, while M'Clintock and Kane's observations tend to confirm those of Parry. No relationship between these phenomena appears to have been recorded by the British expedition of 1875–76.

But Armitage says, in Franz Josef Land, "I could not avoid noticing the vagaries of the magnet, and attributing them to the frequent brilliant displays of auroral light which held us entranced during our stay in