522 
it may be justly regarded as a most creditable monument of learning and 
religious feeling, at a period when the Irish church was about at her 
best. In its style we observe a great superiority over the Latin of Co- 
lumbanus, the Book of Armagh, and even Adamnan; and we are na- 
turally inclined to attribute the excellence to foreign association. The 
composition which most resembles it in tone and vigour is the admirable 
Paschal Epistle of Cumian, written about twenty-five years before.* 
In a theological point of view, this is the most interesting relique of 
Trish learning; and, though we may well conceive that our numerous 
monasteries with their numerous Ferlecghinns produced many works of 
even greater merit, still we have to deplore the merciless rule of bar- 
barism which swept away all domestic evidences of advanced learning, 
leaving scarcely anything on record at home but legendary lore, and has 
compelled us to draw from foreign depositories the materials on which 
to rest the proof that Ireland of old was really entitled to that literary 
eminence which national feeling lays claim to, and general consent is 
disposed to concede. 
The Rev. H. Lioyp, D.D., read the following communication from 
Professor Hanstren, of Christiania :— 
ON THE AMPLITUDE OF THE DAILY VARIATION OF THE MAGNETIC DIP IN 
CHRISTIANIA BETWEEN 10 A. M., AND AN HOUR BEFORE SUNSET, FROM 
1844 To 1859. ‘ 
‘Tw the following Table » is the number of days in each month upon 
which the dip has been observed at its maximum in the morning, and 
at its minimum in the afternoon. Variation is the difference between 
inclinatio antemeridiana and postmeridiana, which has, without excep- 
tion, been always positive. 
Month. n Variation. 
January,... .| 18 + 0'°382 
February,. . . .| 17 + 0 °329 
March,. . .. .| 25 +0 °974 
April, 35 + 2 °365 
May,,! » aieislerntransve 48 + 3°155 
June, 59 +3 °231 
Oily se een ammenaay ire 30 +2 °787 
August, Se Bith +1 °766 
September, . . .} 36 +1 °831 
October, . .. .| 18 +1:227 
November, . . .| 18 + 0 928 
December, . . .| 15 + 0 :239 
* Ussher, Sylloge Epist. Hbi, xi, (Works, vol. iv., p. 482), 
eS es ee 
