ADDRESS. lxv 



actually witnessed the process of feeding the Sun, by the fall of meteoric 

 matter ; but however this may be, it is a remarkable circumstance, that the 

 observations at Kew show that on the very day, and at the very hour and 

 minute of this unexpected and curious phenomenon, a moderate but marked 

 magnetic disturbance took place; and a storm or great disturbance of the 

 magnetic elements occurred four hours after midnight, extending to the 

 southern hemisphere. Thus is exhibited a seeming connexion between mag- 

 netic phenomena and certain actions taking place on the Sun's disc — a con- 

 nexion, which the observations of Schwabe, compared with the magnetical 

 records of our Colonial Observatories, had already rendered nearly certain. 

 The remarkable results derived from the comparison of the magnetical 

 observations of Captain Maguire on the shores of the Polar Sea, with the 

 contemporaneous records of these observatories, have been described by me 

 on a former occasion. The delay of the Government in re-establishing the 

 Colonial Observatories has hitherto retarded that further development of the 

 magnetic laws, which would doubtless have resulted from the prosecution of 

 such researches. 



We may derive an important lesson from the facts above alluded to. 

 Here are striking instances in which independent observations of natural 

 phenomena have been strangely and quite unexpectedly connected together : 

 this tends powerfully to prove, if proof were necessary, that if we are really 

 ever to attain to a satisfactory knowledge of Nature's laws, it must be accom- 

 plished by an assiduous watching of all her phenomena, in every department 

 into which Natural Science is divided. Experience shows that such obser- 

 vations, if made with all those precautions which long practice combined 

 with natural acuteness teaches, often lead to discoveries, which cannot be at 

 all foreseen by the observers, though many years may elapse before the 

 whole harvest is reaped. 



I cannot allude to the subject of Arctic voyages without congratulating 

 the Association on the safe return of Sir Leopold M'Clintock and his gallant 

 band, after accomplishing safely and satisfactorily the object of their inter- 

 esting mission. The great results accomplished with such small means, and 

 chiefly by the display of those qualities of indomitable courage, energy and 

 perseverance which never fail the British seaman in the hour of need, are the 

 theme of general admiration ; but I may be permitted in passing to express 

 some regret, that it was left to the devoted affection of a widowed lady, 

 slightly aided by private contributions, to achieve a victory in which the 

 honour of the nation was so largely involved, — the rather that the danger of 

 the enterprise, — the pretext for non-interference — was much enhanced 

 thereby, and the accessions to our scientific and geographical knowledge 

 proportionably curtailed. 



The instances to which I have alluded are only a few of many which 

 could be adduced of an insufficient appreciation of certain objects of 

 scientific research. Large sums are expended on matters connected 



e 



