APPENDIX C LXIX 
with the instruments loaned by the Carnegie Institution for Scientific 
Research for use on the D.G.S. “Arctic” during the year 1908-9, thus 
affording a very satisfactory comparison between the instruments used 
in Canada and those used in the United States. 
During the year the Magnetic declination has increased by 4’.2; 
from 5°, 58’.2 west to 6°. 2’.6. The horizontal component has dimi- 
nished slightly, and the mean inclination of the needle has changed from 
74° 37’ .4 to 74° 38’.6. A number of important Magnetic disturbances 
have been recorded, the most important one occurring on September 
25th, coincidently with strong earth currents which seriously affected 
the working of ocean cables and telegraphs. The most recent disturb- 
ance occurred on March 27th., when the declination Magnetic ranged 
through an arc of 2°, 12’. 
The officer of this Observatory assigned for special duty on the 
D.G.S. “Arctic,” in the summer of 1908, obtained the Magnetic values at 
the following points: Winter Harbour, Melville Island, Beechy Point, 
Dealy Island, Cape Bounty, Bridport Inlet, Griffith’s Point, Point Gillman, 
Byam Martin Island, Point Hotspur, Bathurst Island, Browne Island, 
Barrow Strait, River Clyde, Baffin Island, Blacklead Island, Cumberland 
Gulf, Port Burwell and Ashe Inlet. 
The Milne Seismographs at Victoria, B.C., and Toronto have been 
kept in successful operation throughout the year: 71 disturbances were 
recorded by the former instrument and 65 by the latter, the number of 
large disturbances being somewhat less than for several years past. 
The Mexican disturbance of July 30th, was the largest of the series, 
and vibrations on the seismographs at Victoria exceeded the scale of 
the instrument, shewing a tilt of over 15”.2, in striking contrast to the 
small movement recorded at Toronto. In the larger number of cases the 
other disturbances were indicated by a mere thickening of the line. On 
September 30th, the Toronto seismograph was installed in the basement 
of the new Meteorological Office in what appears to be a most satis- 
factory position, as there is no indication of air tremors which so fre- 
quently vitiate seismograph records. 
