THE 



EDINBURGH 

 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 



Art. I. — On the supposed Injiuence of the Aurora Borealis 

 upon the Magnetic Needle, in reply to the Observations 

 of M, Arago, as communicated to the Academy of Sciences^ 

 on the ^^d January 1828. w 



Nothing is more agreeable, and certainly nothing more use- 

 ful to the progress of science, than the candid and temperate 

 discussion of such scientific questions as admit of difference of 

 opinion. Science is sure to gain by the collision of minds even 

 of unequal strength, — by the scrupulous examination of state^ 

 ments often mutilated and partial, and by the fair and manly 

 array of facts and arguments which either our prejudices or our 

 ignorance have placed in apparent opposition. Compelled, 

 therefore, as we are, to take up the gauntlet, which an eminent 

 member of the Academy of Sciences has thrown down to us, we 

 shall endeavour to discuss the subject with no other feelings 

 but those which the interests of truth and of science demand. 

 At a meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences, held at 

 I Paris on the 22d January 1828, " M. Arago* made a commu- 

 nication relative to a letter recently written by Mr Dalton, on 

 several magnetic phenomena, and particularly on an observa- 

 tion of the Aurora Borealis. M. Arago prefaced this commu- 



* This passage is translated from an account of the proceedings of the 

 Academy, published in Le Globe of the 26th January 1828, and an abt 

 stract of it has been printed in almost all the English and Scotch news- 

 papers, i; -^^ 



VOL. VIII. NO. II. APKIL 18^8. N 



