84 Gen. Sabine on the Results of Magnetic Observations [Jan. 7, 



consequence the money was also voted by tbe House of Peasants. There is 

 every reason to expect that the question of the practicabiHty of the under- 

 taking will be settled in the next summer, and I hope that the result may 

 be satisfactory. 



The Diet has with the same liberality given the necessary money for 

 the Swedish share in the proposed large Middle-European Triangulation 

 from Palermo to Trondjem, and has also made a grant of the money which 

 will be required to erect a new Astronomical Observatory at the University 

 of Lund. I expect therefore that the excellent astronomer at the Univer- 

 sity, Mr. Moller, will read with intense interest the correspondence regard- 

 ing the Melbourne Telescope, which even to me has been of great interest. 



II. " Results of hourly Observations of the Magnetic Declination 

 made by Sir Francis Leopold M^Clintock, and the Officers 



of the Yacht '^Fox/ at Port Kennedy^ in the Arctic Sea, in 

 the Winter of 1858-59; and a Comparison of these Results 

 with those obtained by Captain Maguire, R.N., and the Officers 

 of H.M.S. ^Plover/ in 1852, 1853, and 1854, at Point Barrow.'^ 

 By Major-General Sabine, R.A., President. Eeceived De- 

 cember 21, 1863. 



(Abstract.) 



When about to undertake a voyage to the Arctic Sea in 1857, in the 

 yacht *Fox,' in search of the ships of Sir John Franklin's expedition, 

 Captain M'Clintock requested that the Royal Society would supply him 

 with such information and instructions as might enable him to make the 

 best use of the opportunity which the voyage was likely to afford for the 

 prosecution of magnetical and meteorological observations. 



As the present communication is limited to a discussion of the hourly 

 observations of the declination made by Captain M'Clintock and his 

 officers from December 1, 1858 to March 31, 1859 inclusive, the portion 

 of the instructions with which Captain M'Clintock was supplied which 

 relates to such observations forms an appropriate introduction. It is fol- 

 lowed by a full statement from Captain M'Clintock himself of the circum- 

 stances under which an observatory was established on the ice at a distance 

 of 220 yards from the ship, and hourly observations maintained during 

 five months of the arctic winter, being only discontinued when, on the 

 return of a more genial season, the services of both officers and sailors were 

 required in prosecuting the more immediate objects of the expedition. 



On the return of the ' Fox ' to England, the observations were sent, 

 through the Royal Society, to the Woolwich establishment for the reduc- 

 tion and publication of magnetic observations. The results of the ob- 

 servations treated of in this paper are discussed in comparison with those 

 obtained from similar observations made by Captain Maguire and the 

 officers of H,M.S. ^Plover' at Point Barrow, on the shore of the Arctic 



