July 5, 1883] 



NATURE 



219 



the lengths of the seconds pendulum at Paris and 

 London. The results of these experiments were published 

 in a paper of some length which appeared in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1828. At the same time he also 

 experimented with the object of ascertaining the ratio of 

 the magnetic forces acting on a needle horizontally sus- 

 pended in London and in Paris. In 1829, in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, he wrote on the reduction to a 

 vacuum of the vibrations of an invariable pendulum ; and 

 in the Quarterly Journal of Science for the same year he 

 gave an account of experiments concerning the force of 

 the earth's magnetism, and on the then recent magnetical 

 observations in Siberia of M. Hanstein. In the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions for 1831 he describes some experi- 

 ments made with the object of determining the length of 

 the seconds pendulum at Greenwich. 



For many years from this date he worked mainly at 

 that science on which he had most deeply set his mark, 

 that of terrestrial magnetism. In 1835, in conjunction 

 with Lloyd, Humphrey, and J. C. Ross, he contributed to 

 the Reports of the British Association (of which he was 

 an early and active member, filling the post of General 

 Secretary for twenty-one years) an account of the terrestrial 

 magnetic force in Ireland. In the following year he himself 

 published in the Reports of that Association an account of 

 the magnetic force in Scotland. As an indication of his 

 range of subjects we may here remark that at this time 

 he published in Froriep Notizen a paper concerning the 

 volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands. Then in 1837 we 

 find him again contributing to the British Association 

 Reports, this time a paper on magnetic intensity, deal- 

 ing with the variations it exhibits at different parts of the 

 earth's surface. He also wrote on the same subject two 

 years later in Frotiep Notizen, L'Institut, and Quetelet's 

 Mathematical Correspondence. In 1838 a memoir on 

 the magnetic isoclinal and isodynamic lines in the 

 British Isles appeared in the British Association Reports, 

 being prepared from observations made by Prof. H. 

 Lloyd, J. Phillips, R. W. Fox, Capt. J. C. Ross, and the 

 indefatigable Sabine. In 1S40 he continued his papers on 

 terrestrial magnetism in the Philosophical Transactions, 

 now taking for his subject the consideration of lines of 

 equal inclination and intensity in the Atlantic Ocean, and 

 on lines of magnetic intensity between the Cape of Good 

 Hope and Australia. He added to this series in the fol- 

 lowing year by contributing an account of the observa- 

 tions made by Capt. Belcher on the west coast of America 

 and adjacent islands, and the new determination of mag- 

 netic elements at Otaheite. Writing in 1838 Sabine had 

 so conclusively demonstrated the importance of mag- 

 netical observations being made in every part of the 

 globe, that Capt. James Ross was sent with the Erebus 

 and Terror to make a magnetical survey of the Antarctic 

 regions. Sabine of course accompanied the expedition. 

 In extension of the work of the magnetic observatory 

 which he had established in England, and which was 

 carried on entirely by his influence, Sabine had induced 

 the authorities to promote the establishment of observa- 

 tories in the colonies. On the voyage out, therefore, not 

 only were numerous observations made, but magnetical 

 and meteorological observatories were founded at St. 

 Helena, the Cape, and Van Diemen's Land, thus permit- 

 ting a great increase in the number of possible observa- 



tions, and a consequent more rapid advance of the science 

 which Sabine had so much at heart. These observatories 

 —to our disgrace be it said, some have now been abolished 

 — were placed under the superintendence of Sabine, and 

 at this period a general magnetic survey of the globe was 

 commenced by him under the direction of the Admiralty, 

 although from what has gone before it is easy to see that 

 the initiative of such a gigantic task had come from 

 himself. 



In 1842 he yet further added to his contributions to 

 terrestrial magnetism, publishing in the Philosophical 

 Transactions an account of observations made during the 

 voyage of the Erebus and Terror from England to the 

 Cape, and from thence to Kerguelen Island. Then in 

 1S43 he wrote concerning the extension of these observa- 

 tions from Kerguelen Island to Van Diemen's Island, 

 giving an account also of the various observations made 

 in the Antarctic circle itself during the summer of 1840 

 and 1841, adding in the year following (1844) an account 

 of the observations from June, 1841, to August, 1842, in 

 the same region. In 1844 and 1845 he made contribu- 

 tions to the British Association Reports concerning the 

 meteorology of Toronto and Bombay. During 1846 he 

 again made contributions to meteorological literature, dis- 

 cussing the winter storms of the United States, and the 

 cause of the mild winters which occur sometimes in our 

 own country. 



With reference to the survey of the globe to which we 

 have referred, we find him next giving an account of a 

 magnetic survey of a considerable portion of the North 

 American continent, and of the southern hemisphere 

 between the meridian of 0° and 125° east, and parallels of 

 - 20' and — 70°. In 1849, m another contribution, he 

 gave a map of the magnetic declination for 1840 in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, between the parallels of 6o° N. and 60° 

 S. latitude. In this year it was that Humboldt's Cosmos, 

 for the author of which Sabine had a profound admira- 

 tion, began to be issued in England, being translated by 

 Mrs. Sabine, and edited by her husband, it being cc m- 

 pleted in 1858. In the year following he became vice- 

 president of the Royal Society, with which he had been 

 so long connected. 



The colonial observatories were, as we have said, under 

 the control of Sabine, and remained so for many years. 

 In 1851 and 1852, and again in 1856, he continued his 

 papers on the magnetism of the earth. 



It had been observed (first by Lamont) that the mean 

 of the larger magnetic disturbances gave signs of being 

 bound by some law, and of having a definite but long- 

 period variation. Previously to this it had been shown 

 by Schwabe that the number of spots on the surface of 

 the sun increased and decreased in obedience to regular 

 law, the cycle occupying nearly eleven years for its com- 

 pletion. The results of the observations at the colonial 

 observatories led Sabine to the discover)' that magnetical 

 disturbances were intimately bound up with this solar 

 spot period ; that the connection between them was of 

 such a nature, that a year of large declination coincided 

 with a year of maximum sunspots, whereas those years 

 when the range in declination was small corresponded 

 with years when there were but few spots on the sun. 

 In the same year the same fact was independently deter- 

 mined by Dr. Rudolf Wolf and M. Gautier. 



