This item was a magnetic compass which was used by M.K.Vainu Bappu during the visit to Kavalur for site survey. The magnetic compass is a tool used for determining direction on the surface of the Earth. It operates by using a magnetic pointer that aligns itself with the Earth's magnetic field. This type of compass is the oldest and most commonly used in various forms of transportation such as aircraft, ships, and land vehicles. The Earth's magnetic field acts as an enormous bar magnet with a North-South field that causes freely moving magnets to take on the same orientation. Although the direction of the Earth's magnetic field is not entirely parallel to the North-South axis of the globe, it is close enough to make an uncorrected compass a reasonably good guide. The inaccuracy, known as variation (or declination), varies in magnitude from point to point on Earth.