DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 257' 



from Para, at the mouth of the Amazon, to Callao, Peru, one through 

 the central part of South America from north to south, and moreover, 

 with the aid of the work accomphshed by Observer H. R. Schmitt in 

 Peru, Boh\ia, and Chile, a chain along the whole Pacific Coast. 



Further good progress has been made by Observer E. Kidson, in 

 charge of the general magnetic survey of Australia and outlying 

 islands, his work having been for the greater part of this year in 

 Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, and Federal Territory. 

 As the result of his training of the chief magnetic observer of the 

 Mawson Antarctic Expedition, Mr. E. N. Webb, there was sent to 

 the Department for reduction, in the early part of this year, a highly 

 valuable series of magnetic observations made in the vicinity of the 

 South Magnetic Pole. Mr. Webb was appointed a temporary obser- 

 ver and assigned to Mr. Kidson in 1911 for the prime purpose of being 

 fitted and trained for the proposed magnetic work in the Antarctic 

 region. The Department had also supplied the magnetic outfits. 

 Mr. Webb deserves high praise for the amount of work accomplished 

 under trying and adverse conditions. 



STATUS OF GENERAL MAGNETIC SURVEY. 



Special effort will be made during the next year to cover the remain- 

 ing unexplored regions, if only in a general way, not yet included in 

 our survey. The aim is to make an attempt by 1915 to construct a 

 new set of magnetic charts, embracing all of the magnetic elements 

 (declination, dip, and intensity of field) and covering the regions of 

 the Earth from 50° north to 50° south. It will then be possible to enter 

 upon the solution of several of the important outstanding questions 

 in terrestrial magnetism. It is proposed to select for this first or pre- 

 liminary magnetic survey of the Earth the middle date, January 1, 

 1910, to which all of the observations secured by the Department, 

 1905-1915, and by cooperating institutions, are to be referred. 



By the time the Department is prepared to issue its next set of 

 magnetic charts (for 1915) it is hoped that the polar regions may 

 also be successfully included. At present, the data for these regions 

 are still too scanty. However, owing to the various projected polar 

 expeditions, the next few years will witness valuable and extensive 

 additions. 



The Department is working in effective cooperation with the chief 

 expeditions by supplying instruments, training observers, and furn- 

 ishing data and directions for the work which is to be undertaken. 

 It refuses its cooperation with expeditions if the organization and 

 personnel are such as not to make it fairly certain that reliable data 

 will be obtained. Data of indifferent value, in the present state of 



