INTRODUCTION. 



§ 1. Description of the Observatory, &c. 



1. The Magnetic Observatory, Makerstoun, was erected in the beginning of 

 1841. The geographical co-ordinates are — 



Latitude, .... 55° 34' 45" N. 



Longitude, . . . . O** lO-n 3-5^ W. 



Height of the cistern of the barometer above mean water at Berwick, 213 feet.* 

 The Magnetic Observatory is situate nearly on the summit of a ridge, which 



occupies the left or northern bank of the Tweed ; being 540 feet distant from, and 



80 feet above, that river. 



The Astronomical Observatory is upon the highest part of the ridge, 140 feet 



due west of the Magnetic Observatory. 



2. A fair horizon is seen from the Observatory hill, being bounded about 

 10 miles to the east by a slightly swelling ground, which to south-east seems to 

 join the Cheviot Hills. The view is bounded about half-a-mile to south and south- 

 west by a ridge, forming the right bank of the Tweed ; about 500 feet to the south- 

 west and north-west by masses of trees in the Makerstoun grounds ; and from 1 to 3 

 miles to north-west, north, and north-east, by an elevated ridge, which forms to some 

 extent the northern boundary of the valley of the Tweed. 



From north, by the east to the south, the elevation of the horizon, with a 

 slight exception, is under 2° ; from north to north-west, increasing from 2° to 4° ; 

 from north-west to south-west, the tops of the trees are elevated from 5° to 8° ; 

 and from south-west to south the elevation is under 4°. The highest point of 

 the Cheviots, which is 2656 feet above the level of the sea, is about 18 miles to 

 the ESE. 



3. The Observatory Hill, it is believed, is composed of felspathic trap. The 

 Tweed, immediately to the south, and for a mile to the east and west, passes through 

 this rock. It does not appear on any part of the hill ; but seems, as far as the 



* The height of a point in the Astronomical Observatory was obtained by connecting it with the 

 levels made from Berwick to the opposite bank of the Tweed, for a projected railway from Berwick to 

 Melrose. Barometrical observations at Holy Island and at Berwick by Sir T. M. Brisbane, and 

 at the Edinburgh Observatory by the late Professor Henderson, compared with simultaneous at 

 Makerstoun, have verified the above determination. 



MAG. AND MET. OBS. VOL. I. C 



