150 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES, 



any one who desires only the essence of these 

 investigations, with no more of detail than is 

 necessary for a thorough and practical understand- 

 ing of the subject. 



Sabine's Report of 1838 concludes with the 

 following sentence : " Viewed in itself and its 

 " various relations, the magnetism of the earth 

 11 cannot be counted less than one of the most 

 <l important branches of the physical history of the 

 " planet we inhabit ; and we may feel quite assured 

 41 that the completion of our knowledge of its 

 " distribution on the surface of the earth would be 

 " regarded by our contemporaries and by posterity 

 " as a fitting enterprise of a maritime people, and 

 " a worthy achievement of a nation which has ever 

 " sought to rank foremost in every arduous and 

 " honourable undertaking." An immediate result 

 of this Report was that the enterprise which it 

 proposed was recommended to the Government by 

 a joint Committee of the British Association and 

 the Royal Society with such success, that Captain 

 James Ross was sent in command of the 11 rebus 

 and Terror to make a magnetic survey of the 



