365 



vestigations of this active-minded philosopher. We owe to him 

 the discovery of a neutral point in the polarization of the atmo- 

 sphere ; the determination, by simultaneous hourly observations with 

 M. KupfFer of Kasan, of the synchronous perturbations of the mag- 

 netic needle at places very distant from each other; a series of deli- 

 cate experiments in photometry, and various experimental verifi- 

 cations of Fresnel's theory ; a new method of measuring the dia- 

 meters of the planets; and many valuable astronomical and meteor- 

 ological observations. 



In the autumn of 1834 Arago visited this country. His principal 

 object was to make himself acquainted with the methods of observa- 

 tion employed at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, then under 

 the direction of Mr. Pond. He also attended the meeting of the 

 British Association which was that year held at Edinburgh ; on this 

 occasion he received a diploma of the freedom of the city, and was 

 nominated an honorary member of the Association. He made several 

 interesting communications to the Physical Section ; and the Com- 

 mittee having requested him to state his views as to any points on 

 which it appeared to him it might be useful for the British Associa- 

 tion to co-operate with the Institute of France, he noticed in par- 

 ticular " the great advantage which might be expected to accrue 

 to magnetical science from the establishment of observatories fur- 

 nished with adequate instruments, and under the superintendence of 

 a competent observer, throughout the extensive possessions of the 

 British empire, and dwelt on the necessity of arranging magnetical 

 observations upon a uniform and well-approved plan." 



The ensuing year the Committee of the British Association acted 

 on this suggestion, by resolving that an application should be made 

 to the Government to carry it into effect. In 1836, the Royal Society, 

 on whose attention the subject was strongly urged by Baron von 

 Humboldt, added its weight to the recommendation, and the joint 

 endeavours of these two bodies resulted in the establishment by Her 

 Majesty's Government and the East India Company, of numerous 

 magnetic observatories in widely separated parts of the British domi- 

 nions, co-operating with' others instituted in various parts of Europe 

 and the United States of America. It is to be regretted, that, not- 

 withstanding M. Arago's strong interest in this great scientific 

 combination, no corresponding observations were made in Paris ; 

 Algiers having been the only station established at his suggestion 

 in the French Empire. 



M. Arago was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society in 

 1818, and on two subsequent occasions the Council of that body 

 marked their sense of his high scientific merits by adjudging to him 

 in 1825 the Copley Medal, "for his discovery of the magnetic pro- 

 perties of bodies not containing iron," and again in 1850, the Rum- 

 ford Medal, " for his experimental investigations on polarized light." 



The late Rev. Charles Turnor, M.A., F.R.S., and F.R.A.S., 

 was an ardent benefactor to Science. He was born in Lincolnshire 

 on the 10th of August, 1768 ; and after receiving the first rudiments 

 of education at Grantham, graduated in Trinity College, Cambridge. 

 On the 15tli of May, 1802, he was instituted to the vicarage of 



