JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 153 



which had made a report in relation to the telegraph at the meeting 

 of May 19, 1858. 



The following communication was presented : 



13 Ashley Place, 

 London, January 8, 1859. 



My Deae Sir : I sent you from Leeds, in September, a printed copy of the report 

 of the joint committee of the Royal Society and the British Association, on the sub- 

 ject of the continuance of magnetic observations drawn up by Sir John Herschel. 

 You will have been apprised by it of the serious purpose entertained in this country 

 to prosecute the magnetic researches which have already, though quite in their in- 

 fancy, established so many important laws. The minutes of the last meeting of the 

 council of the British Association, will make you acquainted with our subsequent 

 proceedings. 



Our government has postponed the decision of the precise measures to be taken 

 until next year ; and indeed our preparations, both of instruments and observers, 

 could scarcely have been ready earlier, but I think that we may entertain very san- 

 guine hopes of establishing some observatories at least ; and I have the more coniident 

 expectation of this from the letter of the Prince Consort of December 11th, (which 

 you will see in the enclosed minutes,) who is to be our president next year, (at the B. 

 A.,) and who will then be the medium of our communications with government. 

 But still we may derive great support from any evidence which we may be able to 

 adduce that other countries besides our own participate in the scientific interest of 

 these researches, and it is specially in this view that I now write to you. 



Our government appears not indisposed to have an observatory at Pekin, and we 

 shall no doubt press strongly to have a second at Vancouver's Island. Toronto is 

 already a third observatory in action in nearly the same latitude, and London a 

 fourth. It is obvious that a chain of stations at moderate distances from each other 

 in the middle latitudes of the one hemisphere would give us a very reasonable pros- 

 pect of establishing with confidence laws the existence of which we can now only 

 infer. The greatest interval is between London and Pekin, but this, I have some 

 reason to hope, may be supplied by an observatory at Kazan, under the able direction 

 of Professor Bolzani, and it is impossible under these circumstances not to desire 

 that the observatory which you have so long meditated at Washington, should be 

 brought into corresponding activity. 



It is purposed that the instruments for the new British observatories should serve 

 either for eye observations or for a continuous record of the three elements. They 

 will be in great measure on the model of the self-recording instruments at Kew, 

 which have now been at work for a twelvemonth, and which seem indeed to leave 

 little to be desired. But those for the colonial observatories will be somewhat differ- 

 ently arranged, so as to occupy a space not exceeding, perhaps, twelve feet by six, 

 and to have all their parts so attached to a solid floor that nothing is capable of mis- 

 placement. We find at Kew that two persons are sufiicient for the manipulations of 

 such an observatory, the preparation of the paper, &c, and the tabulation from the 

 traces by instrumental measurement at hourly intervals. 



The instruments for the first either colonial or extra English observatory are in 

 hand, and will be at work we expect in a temporary building in the grounds of the 

 observatory at Kew, in July or August next, where, should you incline to come once 

 more to our British Association meeting, which is to be held this year at Aberdeen, 

 under the Prince Consort, or should any friend do so in whose judgment you can con- 

 fide, there will be a full opportunity for examining them. 



I cannot conclude this letter without again adverting to the support which we 

 should derive in our communications with our government in the event of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution concurring with us in the importance of prosecuting these inqui- 

 ries, and being disposed to adopt corresponding proceedings with, of course, such 

 modifications as may suit either their convenience or their views of the subject. 



Believe me, my dear sir, sincerely yours, 



EDWARD SABINE. 



Professor Henry. 



The above communication was referred to the Secretary and Ex- 

 ecutive Committee. 



The Secretary presented a communication from Gr. J. Durand, of 



