Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, the Isle of
France, Ceylon, and New Holland, which five years previously I had advanced
as good positions. The Royal Society appointed a joint physical and
meteorological committee, which not only proposed to the government the
establishment of fixed magnetic observatories in both hemispheres, but also
the equipment of a naval expedition for magnetic observations in the
Antarctic Seas. It is needless to proclaim the obligations of science to
the great activity of Sir John Herschel, Sabine, Airy, and Lloyd, as well as
the powerful support that was afforded by the British Association for the
Advancement of Science at their meeting held at Newcastle in 1838. In June,
1839, the Antarctic magnetic expedition, under the command of Captain James
Clark Ross, was fully arranged; and now, since its successful return, we
reap the double fruits of the highly important geographical discoveries
around the south pole, and a series of simultaneous observations at eight or
ten magnetic stations.
A great English astronomer and physicist has calculated* that the mass of
observations which are in progress will accumulate in the course of three
years to 1,958,000.
[footnote] *See the article on 'Terrestrial Magnetism', in the 'Quarterly
Review' 1840, vol.
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