232 Intelligence and Miscellaneous A rticles. 



the main land (such as St. Helena, Ascension, Sec.) than it is on 

 continents. 



The compression of the earth, deduced from Captain Foster's 



experiments, is - ■; Captain Sabine made it -r--—- ; the mean 



of the French and Russian experiments is — = — • the mean of the 



1 26* -23 



whole combined is ,, . - 



2t>j'26 



The total number of coincidences made by Captain Foster was 

 more than 20,000; and occupied upwards of 3180 hours. The 

 total time occupied by Captain Sabine was only 598 hours: the 

 total time occupied by Captain Freycinet was only 367 hours: and 

 the total time occupied by Captain Duperrey was only 255 hours. 

 So that Captain Foster's experiments are five times more extensive 

 than Captain Sabine's, and full two and a-half more extensive than 

 the whole of the above experimentalists united. They have also 

 the advantage of having been made with a greater variety of pendu- 

 lums ; and cannot fail to be duly appreciated in all inquiries con- 

 nected with that important subject (the true figure of the earth) 

 which they were intended to elucidate. 



II. On the introduction of the Copernican Theory into England. 

 By the Rev. Joseph Hunter. Communicated by W. Frend, Esq. 



The work of Copernicus was published in 1543; the Epheme- 

 rides of Rheticus in 1551, and the Canons of Reinholdt in 1554>. In 

 1556, the first English Copernican work was published, under the 

 title of, " Ephemeris, anni 1557 currentis, juxta Copernici et Rein- 

 holdi Canones fideliter per Joannem Field, Anglum, supputata ac 

 examinata ad meridianum Londinensem, qui occidentalior esse judi- 

 catur a Reinholdo, quam sit Regii Montis, per Hor. I. scr. 50. Lon- 

 dini, MDLVI. Sept. xii." Various particulars of this work and of its 

 author were given in the paper. 



III. Some particulars relative to the Life and Writings of the 

 late Mr. Flamsteed, never yet published. By F. Baily, Esq., Pre- 

 sident of the Society, &c. These are given at large in the Monthly 

 Notices of the Society. 



IV. Transits of the Moon with Moon-culminating Stars ob- 

 served at Cambridge Observatory, in the months of July, August, 

 September and October 1833. By Professor Airy. 



XL. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



PROF. STEVELLv's MODE OF DETERMINING THE VARIATION 

 AND DIP OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE. 



THE mode in which Professor Stevelly uses the sextant in deter- 

 mining the dip and variation of the needle is as follows. The sex- 

 tant is placed horizontally on its stand, with the centre of the mirror 

 precisely over a point in a meridian line, and the telescope directed 

 towards the compass needle placed at a short distance from it. The 

 needle has at each extremity a fine point let into it, directed verti- 

 cally, and is also placed on a stand, which has a screw elevating 





