xlix 



two Pendulum papers in 1830 and one in 1831. In 1834 he com- 

 menced, in conjunction with the Rev. Humphry Lloyd (afterwards 

 Provost of Trinity College), and Captain James Clarke Ross, R.N. 

 (afterwards Sir James Ross, of Antarctic fame), the first systematic 

 magnetic survey ever made of the British Islands. He extended it 

 single-handed, to Scotland, in 1836, and to England, in conjunction 

 with the same and some additional observers, in the following year. 

 With the exception of the mathematical section of the Irish Report, 

 which was Professor Lloyd's, the Reports — which were published by 

 the British Association — were mainly his ; and also a very large 

 share of the observations, more particularly the laborious task of 

 combining them, by equations of condition, to obtain the most pro- 

 bable mean results. About twenty-three years later (1858-61), with 

 unabated interest, and still privileged to number Dr. Lloyd among 

 his coadjutors, he undertook, at the request of the General Com- 

 mittee of the British Association, to repeat this Survey; and, as 

 before, reduced and reported the results, as far as concerned the 

 elements of Dip and Force. Captain (afterwards Sir F.) Evans, 

 R.N., Hydrographer to the Admiralty, dealt with the Declination. 



The year 1836 will ever be memorable in the history of British 

 Science, for a letter, dated 22nd April, addressed to H.R.H. the Duke 

 of Sussex, President of the Royal Society, by Baron Alexander von 

 Humboldt, in which he referred to conversations he had held with 

 Sabine and Lloyd, on a recent visit which they had paid to Berlin, 

 and he urged upon the British Government to establish regular mag- 

 netical stations in different parts of the British Empire, similar to 

 those which, mainly through his influence and exertions, had already 

 been some years in operation in Northern Asia. This letter was 

 referred to the Astronomer Royal, Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Airy, 

 and Samuel Hunter Christie for a report. — ' Roy. Soc. Proc.,' vol. 3. 



A Committee on Mathematics and Physics was appointed in May, 

 1838, of which Major Sabine and Professor Lloyd were prominent 

 members, and towards the end of the year the definitive and official 

 recommendation was made to H.M. Government, already prepared to 

 receive it, to establish magnetic observatories at selected stations in 

 both hemispheres, and despatch a Naval Expedition to the Southern 

 Hemisphere, with the purpose of making a magnetic survey of the 

 Antarctic regions. 



It is needless to say that Major Sabine played an active and con- 

 spicuous part in all these negociations and preparatory arrangements. 



The observations were placed under the charge of Lieutenants of 

 the Royal Artillery, all of whom went through a course of preliminary 

 training at the Magnetic Observatory, Trinity College, Dublin, under 

 the superintendence of Professor Lloyd ; in fact, the scientific super- 

 vision of the scheme was left in great measure in Lloyd's hands. 



