Letter to George F. FitzGerald from Ettrick W. Creak
Title
Letter to George F. FitzGerald from Ettrick W. Creak
Date
Publisher
Identifier
GFF 5/109
Subject
Description
Handwritten letter from Ettrick W. Creak to George F. Fitzgerald, dated 22 October 1886. Creak discusses his observations concerning magnetism in relation to distance. 4 pp.
Transcription:
"Dear Professor Fitzgerald,
I am much obliged to you for your kind offer to make observations of the magnetic elements but considering that you have so long dis-continued the regular observations I can hardly ask you to start afresh even for a week. I am very sorry your intended magnitude survey of Ireland came to naught as it would have been useful in many ways especially in the reconstruction of our chart of Magnetic Declination so important to navigations approaching the English Channel and Irish Coasts. I have a large number of observations which would [be a?] bringing up to date if I only knew really good values for the secular change. Independent observations made at different spots in the same neighbourhood are often most misleading and nothing but continuous observations of the same spot for about 15 or 20 years will give me the annual change as accurately as I desire. I have Greenwich and Kew and Stonyhurst very satisfactorily but I am anxious to obtain the secular change at places on or near a line roughly drawn from Stonyhurst to Berehaven as from my present values the amount of secular change decreases in that direction becoming zero [and?] a line drawn from Newfoundland to the Cape de Verde Islands. I shall however be very glad of any observations from Ireland such as you have so kindly offered to obtain if possible.
Yours Sincerely
Ettrick W. Creak"
Transcription:
"Dear Professor Fitzgerald,
I am much obliged to you for your kind offer to make observations of the magnetic elements but considering that you have so long dis-continued the regular observations I can hardly ask you to start afresh even for a week. I am very sorry your intended magnitude survey of Ireland came to naught as it would have been useful in many ways especially in the reconstruction of our chart of Magnetic Declination so important to navigations approaching the English Channel and Irish Coasts. I have a large number of observations which would [be a?] bringing up to date if I only knew really good values for the secular change. Independent observations made at different spots in the same neighbourhood are often most misleading and nothing but continuous observations of the same spot for about 15 or 20 years will give me the annual change as accurately as I desire. I have Greenwich and Kew and Stonyhurst very satisfactorily but I am anxious to obtain the secular change at places on or near a line roughly drawn from Stonyhurst to Berehaven as from my present values the amount of secular change decreases in that direction becoming zero [and?] a line drawn from Newfoundland to the Cape de Verde Islands. I shall however be very glad of any observations from Ireland such as you have so kindly offered to obtain if possible.
Yours Sincerely
Ettrick W. Creak"
Source
RDS Library & Archives GFF collection of letters
Rights
Copyright RDS Library & Archives. Publication, transmission or display is prohibited without formal written approval of the RDS Library & Archives.
Relation
RDS Science Archive
Format
Manuscript
Language
English
Type
Coverage
1870-1901
Collection
Citation
Creak, E. W. (Ettrick William), 1835-1920, “Letter to George F. FitzGerald from Ettrick W. Creak,” RDS Digital Archive, accessed December 5, 2025, https://digitalarchive.rds.ie/items/show/1887.