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Rotation measures have been determined for 18 pulsars, which brings the total number known to 38. It is concluded from these results that the magnetic field in the local region consists of a longitudinal component of strength 2.2 1 0.4 microgauss directed toward 1 = 94 1 ii together with superposed irregularities of comparable field strength. The longitudinal component appears to be uniform on a large scale, having the same sense and direction out to more than 1 kpc from the Sun. Scales of irregularities are typically a few hundred parsecs, with smaller-scale structure apparently not an important contribution to the average field. These conclusions are compared with those from observations of rotation measures of extragalactic sources and optical polarization, and their implications on proposed models for the origin of the galactic field are discussed. Subject headings: galactic structure - magnetic fields - pulsars
R. N. Manchester (Fri,) studied this question.