Aurora Borcalis on the Magnetic Needle. 199 



fe' 



That these observations and these results are deemed of 

 the highest value, and worthy of the highest confidence, by - 

 philosophers of the first order, is proved by the fact, that the 

 Royal Society of London have rewarded them with their Copley 

 medal for 1827, and in those eloquent and admirable addresses 

 which their distinguished President, Mr Davies Gilbert, de- 

 livered along with the medals, he has ranked among the most 

 important contents of Lieutenant Foster's paper, the " Re- 

 jftitatioJb of the supposed connection between tremors of the 

 Needle and Aurora Borealis.'''' * 



We may now be permitted to ask the philosophers of every 

 country, if they are disposed to set aside, as of no value, the 

 Herculean -f- labours of Lieutenant Foster and Captain Par- 

 ry, and substitute in their place the responses which issue 

 from the Royal Observatory of Paris, from a mysterious re- 

 cord which only one eye is allowed to see, and upon which 

 only one judgment is allowed to be exercised ? Will they 

 prefer the sweeping conclusions presented to the Academy of 

 Sciences on the 22d of January, to the cautious inductions of 

 the English navigators ? — and if they do, will their preference 

 for these conclusions be increased, when they learn that M.* 

 Arago was long before in possession of the results of Captain 

 Parry and Lieutenant Foster's observations ? 



It may be proper to state, that a very able observer. Pro- 

 fessor KufFner of Kasan, has observed a coincidence between 

 agitations of the needle and Aurorae Boreales which appeared 



with streamers sometimes shooting towards the zenith. At times when it 

 was brightest, though not very briUiant during any part of the winter, I 

 have frequently watched this needle without ever being able to detect a 

 change that could be ascribed to its influence." — Phil. Trans, 1826, Part iv. 

 p. 175, note. 



* Addresses to the Royal Society, &;c. by Davies Gilbert, President, &c. 

 Lond. 1828, p. 16. It is distinctly stated that the medal is awarded 

 for the " observations and deductions" of Lieutenant Foster. 



t The President of the Royal Society justly remarks, " One is utterly 

 astonished at the magnitude of these labours, and at the accuracy and care 

 ivith which they were conducted (as is manifest from internal evidence) in a 

 situation where comfort and ease were unattainable, and where peculiar 

 difficulties presented themselves at every step." — Adresses, P' ^4., ,.,,, :,,,, 



