100 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



complete and nearly equal oscillations from an easterly to a 

 westerly position in a lunar day of 24.1 hours; that this ac- 

 tion of the moon is dependent on the earth's position in its 

 orbit, and on the position of the moon relative to sunrise 

 and sunset ; and that this lunar action is sometimes greater 

 than the solar action at the magnetic equator. 



In a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, Capt. F. 

 J. Evans treated of the secular changes in the earth's mag- 

 netism, especially in the variation and dip, drawing from 

 them the conclusion that the changes are not sufficiently 

 uniform over the whole globe to be attributed to cosmical 

 action, but are rather to be attributed to movements in the 

 interior of the earth (Nature, vol. xviii., p. 80). 



A new magnetic observatory has been established at Pav- 

 lovsk, in connection with the Central Physical Observatory 

 at St. Petersburg. It comprises three buildings for scientif- 

 ic purposes, and the necessary dwellings for the staff em- 

 ployed. It is furnished with the most improved scientific 

 instruments, and special care lias been taken to avoid the 

 presence of any iron in the buildings devoted to magnetic 

 observations (Nature, vol. xviii., p. 316). It w r as inaugurated 

 on July 21,1878. 



On May 14, 1878, a magnetic storm was recorded simul- 

 taneously by the instruments at Stonyhurst and at Green- 

 wich, England ; at Melbourne, Australia ; at Shanghai (Zi- 

 ka-w r ei), China ; and at Toronto, Canada, where the instru- 

 ments were affected a few minutes earlier than in Europe. 

 The character of the movements of the needle was the same 

 at each station. The magnetic disturbance was strongly felt 

 by telegraph lines in England, America, India, and Persia 

 (Nature, vol. xviii., pp. 617, 641, 668 ; vol. xix., p. 220). 



William Leroy Broun describes a new lecture experiment, 

 to show the action of terrestrial magnetism. A rectangular 

 frame of light wood, carrying twenty coils of insulated wire, 

 was suspended in a horizontal position from the pans of a 

 balance, so that the long sides of the rectangle were at right 

 angles to the beam ; and mercury connections were arranged 

 at the middle of the short sides, so that a current could be 

 sent through the wire. This apparatus being placed with 

 the long sides of the rectangle perpendicular to the mag- 

 netic meridian, when the battery current passed from east 



