226 HISTORY OF MAGNETISM. 



had already laid his powerful hand upon them ; namely, M. Gauss, a 

 mathematician not inferior to any of the great men who completed the 

 theory of gravitation. And institutions had been established for 

 extending the collection of the facts pertaining to it, on a scale which 

 elevates Magnetism into a companionship with Astronomy. M. Han- 

 steen's Magnetismus der Erde was published in 1819. His conclu- 

 sions respecting the position of the four magnetic " poles" excited so 

 much interest in his own country, that the Norwegian Storthing, or 

 parliament, by a unanimous vote, provided funds for a magnetic expe- 

 dition which he was to conduct along the north of Europe and Asia ; 

 and this they did at the very time when they refused to make a grant 

 to the king for building a palace at Christiania. The expedition was 

 made in 1828-30, and verified Hansteen's anticipations as to the 

 existence of a region of magnetic convergence in Siberia, which he 

 considered as indicating a "pole" to the north of that country. M. 

 Erman also travelled round the earth at the same time, making maa;- 



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netic observations. 



About the same time another magndtical phenomenon attracted atten- 

 tion. Besides the general motion of the magnetic poles, and the diurnal 

 movements of the needle, it was found that small and irregular dis- 

 turbances take place in its position, which M. de Humboldt termed mag- 

 netic storms. And that which excited a strong interest on this subject 

 \vas the discovery that these magnetic storms, seen only by philosophers 

 who watch the needle with microscopic exactness, rage simultaneously 

 over large tracts of the surface of our globe. This was detected about 

 1825 by a comparison of the observations of M. Arago at Paris with 

 simultaneous observations of M. KupfFer at Kasan in Russia, distant 

 more than 4Y decrees of longitude. 



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At the instance of M. de Humboldt, the Imperial Academy of Russia 

 adopted with zeal the prosecution of this inquiry, and formed a chain 

 of magnetic stations across the whole of the Russian empire. Mag- 

 netic observations were established at Petersburg and at Kasan, and 

 corresponding observations were made at Moscow, at NicolaiefF in the 

 Crimea, and Barnaoul and Nertchinsk in Siberia, at Sitka in Russian 

 America, and even at Pekin. To these magnetic stations the Russian 

 government afterwards added, Catharineburg in Russia Proper, Hel- 

 singfors in Finland, Teflis in Georgia. A comparison of the results 

 obtained at four of these stations made by MM. de Humboldt and 

 Dove, in the year 1830, showed that the magnetic disturbances were 

 simultaneous, and were for the most parallel in their progress. 



