274 REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



account of which will be found in the journal Terrestrial Magnetism 

 and Atmospheric Electricity for September. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



In September, at Innsbruck, Austria, occurred a meeting of the 

 International Committee on Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric 

 Electricity, of which the director is a member. He w^as prevented 

 from attending it because of the duties devolving upon him in 

 connection with the magnetic survey of the North Pacific Ocean and 

 the international magnetic observations during the total solar eclipse 

 of August 30. In conformit}^ with the views of the President of the 

 Institution, the director, however, submitted to the committee in the 

 form of a letter a statement of the attitude of the department regarding 

 certain propositions. The general policy of the department, further- 

 more, was made clear, viz, not to supplant an}' existing organization 

 in the work already undertaken, but rather to supplement and to 

 cooperate in the most effective manner. 



The committee was also informed of the initial steps already taken 

 by the Institution to secure within a reasonable period a complete 

 magnetic survey of the globe, and to obtain the data required for a 

 successful study of the secular variation. With this end in view, it 

 was stated that the Institution would confine its work almost entirely 

 to unexplored areas and to the oceanic areas, and that it remained, 

 however, for the members of the committee to see to it that magnetic 

 surveys were energetically prosecuted in the countries and colonies 

 which they represented. 



The committee, in view of these statements, has unanimously ex- 

 pressed its opinion as to the desirability of an effective cooperation 

 between the various governmental institutions engaged in magnetic 

 and electric researches with this department. In order to come to 

 an agreement as to how this can best be done, they appointed a 

 subcommittee, consisting of eminent and influential investigators, to 

 arrange with the department as to the necessary details. It rs thus 

 evident that the confidence, good will, and united support of mag- 

 neticians and organizations the world over have been secured. 



