298 HISTORY OF DISCOVERY RELATIVE TO MAGNETISM. 



miues at Freiberg, in Saxony, whilst Arago, at his own exjjense, had a decli- 

 nation compass placed in the interior of Mexico, at the height of 6,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea. On the suggestion of Admiral Labord, the secretary of 

 the navy of France directed the establishment of a magnetic observatory in 

 1836, at Rcikiavik, in Iceland, and Ilumboldt sent instruments for an observa- 

 tory to Havana. 



In 1832 a new epoch commenced in the history of magnetic investigations; 

 in that year Frederic Gauss, the renowned author of the general theory of the 

 magnetism of the earth, as Ilumboldt calls him, erected in the observatory of 

 Gottingen a set of instruments, constructed upon an entii-ely new principle. In 

 1834 this apparatus was transferred to a new observatory, expressly prepai-ed 

 for the pui-pose, and placed in charge of William Weber. After this, from 

 Gottingen, as from a centre, was diffused over Germany, Sweden, and Italy, 

 a spirit of magnetic observation with the improved methods and the instruments 

 of Gauss. In 1836 four annual terms, each of twenty-four hours, were agreed 

 upon by all the observers, during which a continued series of observations were 

 to be simultaneously made, although the hours of these terms did not exactly 

 correspond with those which Ilumboldt had proposed, yet they were unanimously 

 adopted. 



England had thus far taken no part in the general movement, although the 

 celebrated English physicist. Sir David Brewster, made application to the 

 government for the establishment of magnetic stations at different points of the 

 British possessions, but it was here again, through the influence of Humboldt, 

 that the desired result was obtained. He addressed a letter in April, 1836, to 

 the Duke of Sussex, then president of the Royal Society in London, strongly 

 recommending the establishment of permanent magnetic stations in Canada, at 

 St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, on the Isle of France, Ceylon, and New 

 Holland. In consequence of this letter, a committee of the Royal Society was 

 appointed in order to examine and report upon the subject. It was proposed 

 by this committee, in a letter to the government, not only to establish permanent 

 magnetic observations, but also to equip ships for an expedition to the Antarctic 

 ocean for the purpose of magnetic observations in that region. 



(to be continued in the next report.) 



