| Description | Atkinson wrote to Captain [William Henry] Smyth, President of the Royal Geographical Society regarding the cause of the variation of the compass, and requested to meet with him. Atkinson discusses the attraction of the magnet, and argues it is caused by the earth moving round an imaginary axis from east to west, with the equator being the balancing point. With a par of compasses and a map of the world it is possible to obtain the true variation for any latitude north or south as far as the magnet will work. |