Abstract
THE magnetic needle has been described with poetic licence as “true to the pole,” and few, I suspect, are aware how little it deserves this reputation. The earliest known information on this point in England dates from 1580, when Boroughs, observing at Limehouse, found the needle to point 111/4° to the east of geographical north. During the next 21/3 centuries it kept moving to the west, reaching its extreme position of 241/2° to west of north in 1818. It has since retraced its path, and now at Kew points only a little more than 16° to west of north.
References
Archives des Sciences physiques et naturelles, Geneva, 1907.
"National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–4." Magnetic Observations, p. 186.
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Magnetic Storms . Nature 83, 354–358 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/083354a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/083354a0
