XIV. A comparison of the changes of magnetic intensity throughout the day in the dipping and horizontal needls, at Treurenburgh Bay in Spitsbergen
The few observations I had an opportunity of making at Port Bowen in 1825, on the diurnal changes of intensity shown by the dipping and horizontal needles, first suggested the idea of a daily rotatory motion of the general polarizing axis of the earth, as the cause, not only of the diurnal changes of intensity, but also of the diurnal oscillations of the horizontal needle throughout the world. And the circumstance, of the times of the maximum and minimum effect of these phænomena, occurring generally when the sun bore north, south, east, and west by compass, indicated his agency in producing this motion of the pole. The entire confirmation of an hypothesis so important in the theory of terrestrial magnetism, requires the evidence of varied and extensive observation; and as my professional pursuits have recently led me to revisit those regions best calculated for the experiments, I have thought a continuation of them under favourable circumstances, might prove an useful auxiliary to those already honoured with a place in the Philosophical Transactions for 1826.