107 



The south-eastern district, where the observations were made, is 

 shown by the Map which accompanies this communication, and may 

 be regarded as bounded N by the Thames, E. and S. by the British 

 Channel, and W. by the other southern counties of England. Kent, 

 Surrey, Sussex, and Berkshire , are concerned in contributing to the 

 observations. Eighteen pairs of terminal stations have been selected ; 

 the eighteen direct lines, drawn to connect each pair of stations, 

 make different angles with the magnetic meridian. The view taken 

 by the author is that a flood or stream of electricity, of indefinite 

 width, is drifting across the country, and that portions of it appear 

 as derived currents in the telegraph wires, entering by the earth 

 connexion at one terminus, and leaving by like means at the other. 

 The derived current enters at the terminus nearest to the point of 

 the horizon from which the main current flows, and leaves at that 

 nearest the point toward which it flows. 



A Table is then given of the eighteen pairs of stations, their names, 

 the angle their joining line makes with the magnetic meridian, the 

 direct distance from station to station, and the distance by the wire 

 route. 



The returns made of the August-September storm of 1859 are 

 more meagre than usual, for reasons that are given ; and the author 

 explains, that on the very days when the clerks would be most valu- 

 able as observers, they are more occupied in their ordinary duties 

 from the presence of the disturbances, which harass them in their 

 work ; and on this account he expresses himself the more indebted 

 to those who have observed so well at such times, especially to 

 Messrs. J. Dyke, D. Malpas, and T. Pulley. 



An extract is next given from the last Report of the Astronomer 

 Royal to the Board of Visitors, stating that he cannot extract 

 from the returns made by telegraph clerks an idea of the phases of 

 earth-currents, to make them comparable with those of magnetic 

 storms. Into these views Mr. Walker enters ; and while pleading 

 guilty to not having contributed from his district any observations 

 to the Royal Observatory, he explains that it is because he had not 

 heretofore had the opportunity of subjecting what he had collected 

 to anything like a fair discussion. But he quite agrees with the 

 Astronomer Royal, in thinking that it may turn out to be desirable 

 that observations of earth-currents should be made in a magnetic 



