1773.

Cape a blank upon the chart; the northern limits A.D. of either Asia or America were unknown; and to sail by "the unhaunted shores of Finmark, to double the dreadful and misty North Cape, and to vnlocke the seven-fold mouth of Duina," were exploits hardly to be ventured upon. But since that period each succeeding voyage has added to the geographical knowledge of its day; each year has swept away some gloomy superstition; has brought to light some new phenomenon of the northern regions; and tended to the advancement of natural knowledge.

APPENDIX.

CONTAINING

I. ABSTRACT OF EXPERIMENTS MADE AT SPITZ

BERGEN.

II. TEMPERATURE OF THE SEA.

AND

III. CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN.

PART III.

APPENDIX.

Of the various scientific observations made during the absence of Captain Buchan's expedition from England, those on the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds; on the dip, intensity, and magnetic force, of the needle; the temperature of the sea at various depths, as compared with that at the surface, and on the currents of the ocean, are the most interesting; and of these a short notice will not, we trust, be considered superfluous.

No. I.

An Abstract of Experiments made at Spitzbergen, to determine the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds, 1818. By the Rev. George Fisher, Astronomer to the Expedition.

THE pendulum was attached to a clock made by Shelton, the property of the Royal Society. The rod was cylindrical, the bob of a lenticular shape, and the whole of brass, cast in one solid mass. It vibrated upon blunt edges of steel, in hollow cylinders of agate; and the clock was supported upon a strong, oaken, tripod stand. The plane of vibration was adjusted to a vertical