Ixii 



than a bare indication of dates. In 1812 James Ross entered as a 

 midshipman on board the ' Briseis,' commanded by his uncle, Cap- 

 tain (afterwards Sir John) Ross. In 1818 he accompanied his uncle 

 in his first polar voyage, and between 1819 and 1827 he returned 

 four times to the same seas under Parry. Again he accompanied 

 his uncle in his Arctic voyages performed between 1829 and 1833. 

 He conducted the scientific observations in these last-named expedi- 

 tions ; and it was while thus employed that he determined the 

 situation of the North Magnetic Pole, in latitude 70 5' 1 7" and west 

 longitude 96 45' 48". In 1834 he was raised to the rank of 

 Captain, and in 1835 was sent out to Baffin's Bay to succour ice- 

 bound whalers. 



Captain James Ross's skill and experience as a magnetic observer 

 led to his being employed, between 1836 and 1838, in a series of 

 determinations of the magnetic declination and dip, and the intensity 

 of the magnetic force over Great Britain and Ireland. 



In 1839 he set out on his memorable Antarctic Expedition ; and 

 after making three voyages within the Antarctic Circle, reaching 

 78 1 O f of south latitude, greatly widening the known geography of 

 the south polar regions, and gathering a rich harvest of observations 

 in magnetism and other branches of terrestrial physics, he returned 

 home after an absence of four years. In 1848 he sailed on the last 

 of his many arduous voyages. It is well known that the direct 

 purpose of this voyage the discovery and relief of Franklin and his 

 fellow sufferers was unhappily not accomplished, but its Com- 

 mander did not fail to render it profitable to science. 



Sir James Ross received his knighthood in 1844. King Louis 

 Philippe nominated him to the Legion of Honour. He was elected 

 a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1824, and of the Royal Society 

 in 1848. He was also a Corresponding Member of the French 

 Academy of Sciences, and belonged to various other foreign societies 

 of note. 



To this brief notice of the leading events of Sir James Ross's 

 professional life, it will be incumbent on us to add a larger comment 

 on his labours and achievements as a man of science ; but as these 

 have not yet been fully made known in their proper place, it is 

 deemed advisable that such reference to them as it will be requisite 

 to make should be postponed for the present. The great work 



