62 Variation of the Magnetic Needle. 
servation made on the Ist August, 1818, shewed it to be 5° 
45', and on the 24th of the present month of April, (1825) be- 
tween 9 and 10, A. M. it was exactly 6° 00’; all which shews 
that there has been since 1817 a retrograde motion of the nee- 
' dle of about two minutes per year—whether this is general 
in the town of Coeymans, not many days ago, which had 
been run by the late John E. Van Alen, one of the best sur- 
veyors of our country, in 1798, and the variation was foun 
to be one degree, as nearly as could be socciteiannt in the 
same way; that is, from the north to the west. 
It will be recollected that in 1806, a total eclipse of the 
sun of uncommon duration, took its range over our country. 
May I be permitted to escape the charge of advancing in 
absurdity, in suggesting the possibility that the lunar effluvia 
conveyed to the earth by the Aap of the sun, on that occa- 
sion, mi ave had an numer iosing: the phenom- 
cnon Ihave described.* cig that as it may, SS ..: 
to be something remarkable in the coincidence of these oc- 
pc 
a Memoir which I had the honor of reading before the Institute so: 
tim: saa ce, on “the Functions of the M ag which will probably appear 4 
ome future publication of our Transactions, I have extended my remarks in 
tos to the probability, = the ey of 1806, had an effect on the polar- 
of the magnetic nee 
