21 



his concurrence. Any inquiry that Mr. Panizzi might have chosen 

 to make as to the results and details of that computation would, at 

 all times, have received the most immediate and complete answer. 



Report of the Proceedings of the Council for the past year. 



The principal business of public interest which has occupied the 

 attention of the Council relates to the extension of accurate magne- 

 tical and meteorological observations in different parts of the world. 



A communication having been made by Lieut. William Denison, 

 of the Royal Engineers, of a proposal from General Mulcaster, In- 

 spector-General of Fortifications, that the officers of engineers ge- 

 nerally should be employed, under the direction of the Royal Society, 

 in promoting the advancement of science, by carrying on connected 

 series of observations relating to Natural History, Meteorology, 

 Magnetism, and other branches of physical science, and suggesting 

 an application to Government for a grant of funds necessary for ef- 

 fecting so desirable an object ; a Committee was appointed to con- 

 sider of the proposed measure, and of the means of carrying into 

 effect the recommendations contained in the letter of Baron Von 

 Humboldt, addressed in April last to His Royal Highness the Pre- 

 sident. Conformably with the report made by this Committee, the 

 Council fixed on the ten following places, namely, Gibraltar, Corfu, 

 Ceylon, Hobart Town, Jamaica, Barbadoes, Newfoundland, Toronto, 

 Bagdad, and the Cape of Good Hope, as being the most eligible for 

 carrying on magnetic observations according to the plan recom- 

 mended by Baron Von Humboldt ; those places being permanent 

 stations, where officers of engineers and clerks are always to be 

 found. The Council also determined that, for the present, the ob- 

 servations of magnetism may be limited to those of the direction of 

 the magnetic needle, and the meteorological observations restricted 

 to those made on the four days, and in the manner recommended in 

 Sir John Herschel's instructions. 



A grant of 500/. from the public funds has since been obtained 

 from the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, in aid of 

 the purchase of the necessary instruments for carrying on the mag- 

 netic observations, according to the plan proposed by the Committee, 

 and under the directions of the Royal Society. 



A statement having been also laid before the Council by Mr. 

 Christie of the importance of a more accurate determination than 

 has hitherto been made of the variation of the magnetic needle at 

 several points on the coasts and in the interior of Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and likewise of the dip and of the intensity of terrestrial 

 magnetism, the Council, fully concurring in these views, presented 

 to the Lords of the Admiralty a strong recommendation that steps 

 should be taken for carrying into effect the course of observations 

 pointed out by Mr. Christie ; and their Lordships have in ci)nse- 

 • quence appointed a Committee to meet and examine into this im- 

 portant subject. 



The Council having deemed it desirable that the difference of level 



