Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/43

Rh his concurrence. Any inquiry that Mr. Panizzi might have chosen to make as to the results and details of that computation would, at all times, have received the most immediate and complete answer.

The principal business of public interest which has occupied the attention of the Council relates to the extension of accurate magne- tical and meteorological observations in different parts of the world.

A communication having been made by Lieut. William Denison, of the Royal Engineers, of a proposal from General Mulcaster, In- spector-General of Fortifications, that the officers of engineers ge- nerally should be employed, under the direction of the Royal Society, in promoting the advancement of science, by carrying on connected series of observations relating to Natural History, Meteorology, Magnetism, and other branches of physical science, and suggesting an application to Government for a grant of funds necessary for ef- fecting so desirable an object; a Committee was appointed to con- sider of the proposed measure, and of the means of carrying into effect the recommendations contained in the letter of Baron Von Humboldt, addressed in April last to His Royal Highness the Pre- sident. Conformably with the report made by this Committee, the Council fixed on the ten following places, namely, Gibraltar, Corfu, Ceylon, Hobart Town, Jamaica, Barbadoes, Newfoundland, Toronto, Bagdad, and the Cape of Good Hope, as being the most eligible for carrying on magnetic observations according to the plan recom- mended by Baron Von Humboldt; those places being permanent stations, where officers of engineers and clerks are always to be found. The Council also determined that, for the present, the ob- servations of magnetism may be limited to those of the direction of the magnetic needle, and the meteorological observations restricted to those made on the four days, and in the manner recommended in Sir John Herschel’s instructions.

A grant of 500/. from the public funds has since been obtained from the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury, in aid of the purchase of the necessary instruments for carrying on the mag- netic observations, according to the plan proposed by the Committee, and under the directions of the Royal Society.

A statement having been also laid before the Council by Mr. Christie of the importance of a more accurate determination than has hitherto been made of the variation of the magnetic needle at several points on the coasts and in the interior of Great Britain and Ireland, and likewise of the dip and of the intensity of terrestrial magnetism, the Council, fully concurring in these views, presented to the Lords of the Admiralty a strong recommendation that steps should be taken for carrying into effect the course of observations pointed out by Mr. Christie; and their Lordships have in consequence appointed a Committee to meet and examine into this important subject.

The Council having deemed it desirable that the difference of level