446 



MADAGASCAR. 



MAGNETIC NEEDLE. 



when he was made assessor of the Chancellor's 

 Court. In 1813 he was appointed, by Lord 

 Grenville, principal of Magdalen Hall, and the 

 same year nominated by the Lord Almoner to 

 the Readership in Arabic. He held these two 

 offices nntil his death. He exerted himself to 

 raise the character of the Hall of which he 

 was head, and succeeded in bringing it into a 

 rank not inferior to that of the best colleges in 

 the university. His liberality to the poor, his 

 kindness, sincerity, warmth of heart, and his 

 refined and courteous manners, made him uni- 

 versally beloved. He achieved a high reputa- 

 tion as a writer, most of his books being on 

 theological subjects, though he was a layman. 

 His principal works were " Diatessaron, or 

 Harmony of the Gospels," which was long 

 used as a text-book in the university; a work 

 on Mohammedanism ; " Lectures on the Ar- 

 ticles of the United Church of England and 

 Ireland," published in 1853, and " Lectures on 

 the Epistles," in 1858. 



MADAGASCAR, RASUAHERINA MANJAKA, 

 Queen of, the reigning monarch of the Hovas 

 since the close of 1863 ; born about 1835 ; died 

 at Antananariva, the capital of the Hova king- 

 dom, in April, 1868. Her original name was 

 Rabodo, and she had, on the demise of the 

 ferocious Ranavolana in 1862, ascended the 

 throne as queen-consort to Radama II., and 

 on his assassination in 1863 she was at once 

 made queen-regnant, it was said by the unani- 

 mous voice of the anti-foreign party, by whom 

 the king had been assassinated, though, being 

 of royal lineage and the next in hereditary suc- 

 cession to the late king, she was entitled to the 

 throne. Immediately after her accession to 

 the throne she signed a constitution drawn up 

 by the anti-foreign party, and suspended the 

 treaties which King Radama had concluded 

 with European powers. (See RADAMA II., AN- 

 NTJAL CYCLOPEDIA, 1863.) The fears created 

 by these acts were, however, somewhat al- 

 layed by an official declaration that religious 

 liberty would be respected, and that the labors 

 of the missionaries would not be interfered 

 with. In the following years several stringent 

 measures were adopted against foreigners, 

 especially against the French, but the Christian 

 missions were not at all disturbed. The rela- 

 tions of the Queen with England were more 

 friendly than those with France. The treaties 

 between the agent of the French Government 

 and King Radama were, in 1865, publicly 

 burned, while with England, in the same year, 

 a new treaty of amity and commerce was con- 

 cluded. No complaints have since been brought 

 by any of the English residents against the 

 administration of the Queen, and the English 

 missionaries in Madagascar report a rapid and 

 steady progress of Christianity and civiliza- 

 tion. 



MAGNETIC NEEDLE (VARIATIONS OF). 

 In May, 1866, Mr. Noah Barker, of Exeter Mills, 

 Maine, was appointed by the Governor and 

 Council of that State, under a resolution of the 



Legislature, to ascertain the facts relating . to 

 the variations of the magnetic needle, through- 

 out the State of Maine, from its first settle- 

 ment down to the present time. Mr. Barker 

 had been for a number of years land agent of 

 the State, and was an experienced engineer and 

 surveyor. During the past year the commis- 

 sioner completed his report, to be presented 

 to the Legislature at its session of 1869. The 

 summary given herewith is from a sketch pre- 

 pared in advance of the publication of the re- 

 port by the Augusta correspondent of the Bos- 

 ton Advertiser. Prior to the commencement of 

 the United States Coast Survey, but few of 

 the variations of the magnetic needle, as ob- 

 served in Maine, were recorded; and, owing 

 to the doubtful character of some of the ear- 

 lier observations, the commissioner was unable 

 to place reliance upon them. The magnetic 

 force of the earth being a planetary force, the 

 commissioner recognized the necessity of com- 

 paring observations which have been made 

 from time to time, in places widely remote 

 from each other ; and in his report has aimed 

 at usefulness rather than originality. He gives 

 a table of azimuths extending down to the 

 close of the present century, and for every 

 five minutes of latitude within the limits of 

 the State ; also, time-tables for the elongations 

 and culminations of the North star. He also 

 presents such general rules and suggestions as 

 will enable the land-surveyor to determine the 

 declination of the needle for himself, and with 

 the instruments used in ordinary surveys. The 

 western line of no variation in the United 

 States now traverses Cleveland, Ohio (or 

 about 24^ east), passes near Raleigh (N. 0.), 

 and is still receding slowly to the west. At 

 all places lying to the east of the line, in- 

 cluding the New-England States, New York, 

 New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, nearly all 

 of Pennsylvania, and the eastern half of Vir- 

 ginia and North Carolina, the variation is west- 

 erly, that is, the north end of the needle points 

 to the west of due north. At all places lying 

 to the west of this line, including the "Western 

 and Southern States, the variation is easterly, 

 that is, the north end of the needle points to 

 the east of due north. This variation increases 

 in proportion to the distance of the place on 

 either side of the line of no variation, receding 

 more than 21, easterly variation, in Oregon, 

 and about 20 of westerly variation in the north- 

 eastern part of Maine. But no annual rate can 

 be fixed on as a certain rule for the declination 

 of the needle, as its motion is much more rapid 

 in some years than in others. The secular and 

 diurnal changes of the needle are noted at 

 length, as also the annual change, magnetic 

 storms, auroral disturbances, local attraction, 

 magnetic dip, magnetic force, the magnetic 

 poles and meridians. About 8 o'clock in the 

 morning, the needle is in its most easterly po- 

 sition ; from that time until 2 o'clock it moves 

 to the west ; from that time until evening it 

 moves to the east, and from 8 to 9 o'clock in 



