81 



January 7, 1858. 



J. P. GASSIOT, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : 



I. " Remarks upon the Magnetic Observations transmitted from 

 York Fort in Hudson's Bay, in August 1857," by Lieut. 

 BLAKISTON, of the Royal Artillery. By Major-General 

 SABINE, R.A., Treas. and V.P.R.S. Received December 

 16, 1857. 



In the spring of 1857, Her Majesty's Government, designing to 

 send an expedition to examine and survey the yet unsettled country 

 north of the boundary-line between the British territory and that of 

 the United States, and comprised between Canada on the east and 

 the Rocky Mountains on the west, notified their intention to the 

 Royal Society, and invited suggestions regarding any objects of 

 physical research, for which the Royal Society might deem this to be 

 a fitting occasion. 



Amongst the subjects to which attention was called in the reply, 

 the expediency of confirming and extending the Magnetic Survey of 

 British North America, which, at the instigation of the Royal Society, 

 was made in the years 1843 and 1844, and of which the results are 

 contained in the * Philosophical Transactions ' for 1846, Art. XVII., 

 was not forgotten ; and Lieut. Blakiston, of the Royal Artillery, per- 

 sonally known to Mr. Palliser, the conductor of the proposed Expedi- 

 tion, having been appointed to the special charge of the Magnetic 

 Observations, and to assfst generally in Geographical Determinations, 

 the Royal Society undertook to provide the instruments suitable for 

 the purpose, and with the sanction of the Committee of the Kew 

 Observatory of the British Association, placed their preparation 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Welsh, Director of that Observa- 

 tory, where also Lieut. Blakiston received instructions for their use, 

 and acquired practical experience in their manipulation. About the 

 middle of June, Lieut. Blakiston sailed in the Hudson's Bay Com- 



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