XXXViil 
coveries which remained unmade ;—and to congratulate those by 
whom it has been achieved, those whom we are proud to acknowledge 
as fellow-labourers, and who have proved themselves in this instance 
our successful rivals in an honourable and generous emulation. 
The caution which has characterized the British Association in the 
origination of this great undertaking, has been followed up by the 
Royal Society in the manner in which it has planned the details, and in 
the vigilant care with which it has watched over the execution. Of 
the success which has attended this portion of the work, the strongest 
proof has been already given in the unhesitating adoption of the same 
scheme of observation by many of the continental observers, and in the 
wide extension which it has already received in other quarters of the 
globe. All that yet remains is to provide for the speedy publication 
of the results. The enormous mass of observations which will be 
gathered in, in the course of three years, by the observatories esta- 
blished under British auspices, and by the Antarctic expedition, will 
render this part of the task one of great expense and labour. To 
meet the former, we must again look to the Government, and to the 
East India Company, who will certainly not fail to present the result 
of their munificence to the world in an accessible form. The latter 
can only be overcome by a well-organized system. The planning of 
this system, will, of course, be one of the first duties of the Royal 
Society ; and it is important that it should be so arranged, that while 
every facility in the way of reduction may be given to those who shall 
hereafter engage in the theoretical discussion of the observations, 
care is taken at the same time that the data are presented entire, with- 
out mutilation or abridgement. The Council of the Royal Society, 
will, doubtless, be greatly assisted in this duty by the eminent indivi- 
dual who has had in every way so large a share in the formation of 
these widely scattered magnetic establishments, and whose own obser- 
vatory, founded by the munificence of the Dublin University, has 
nearly completed a twelve months’ magnetic observations on that en- 
larged and complete system of which it set the first example. 
In referring, as we have done, to those most valuable services which 
the Royal Society have rendered, and are continuing to render, in di- 
recting and superintending the details of this great undertaking, in 
both its branches, it is right that, on the part of the British Association, 
we should express the cordial satisfaction and delight with which we 
have witnessed their exertions, united with our own in this common 
cause ; nor should we omit to recognize how much this desirable con- 
currence has been promoted by the influence of the noble President of 
the Royal Society, the Marquis of Northampton, whom, as on so many 
