DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.* 



L. A. Bauer, Director. 

 GENERAL SUMMARY. 



Possibly the event of prime importance, during the fiscal year 

 November 1, 1913, to October 31, 1914, was the removal of the Depart- 

 ment, at the end of February 1914, to its new and permanent home. 

 It is of added interest that this removal occurred just as the Depart- 

 ment was rounding out its first decade of existence. Established on 

 April 1, 1904, and housed in rented quarters ever since, where it was 

 impossible to secure all the required facilities, it could thus on April 1, 

 1914, enter on its eleventh year under auspicious circumstances and 

 with renewed life and vigor. 



It may be worth while to summarize briefly what this Department, 

 with the funds provided from time to time and the cordial assistance 

 received, has been enabled to accomplish during the period April 1, 

 1904, to April 1, 1914. Two vessels (the Galilee, 1905-1908; the 

 Carnegie, 1909-1913) have been engaged in ocean magnetic surveys, 

 the aggregate length of the cruises being nearly 161,000 miles, covering 

 all the oceans from about 50° north to 50° south; 38 land magnetic 

 survey expeditions have been sent out in 103 countries, extending from 

 about 80° north to 55° south, the magnetic observations having been 

 made at about 2,500 points, requiring an amount of travel (generally 

 in more or less unexplored or difficult regions) aggregating about 

 800,000 miles; the total amount of travel involved in both the ocean 

 and the land work in execution of the project of a general magnetic 

 survey of the globe approximates thus 1,000,000 miles (about 40 times 

 the Earth's circumference). Four Arctic and Antarctic expeditions 

 have been assisted, the necessary instrumental outfits having been 

 loaned and the requisite training and directions given to the observers; 

 at 29 of the chief magnetic observatories, and also at a number of 

 secondary ones, the magnetic standards of the Department have been 

 compared with those in use at the respective observatories, thus making 

 it possible to reduce to the same standard magnetic data obtained the 

 world over. A non-magnetic yacht, Carnegie, the first vessel specially 

 designed for ocean magnetic surveys, was built in 1909 and has been 

 now five years in commission, during which time she has circumnavi- 

 gated the globe and has sailed over all the chief lanes of ocean travel 

 with practically no mishap, the aggregate length of her cruises up to 



♦Address: Thirty-sixth street and Broad Branch road, Washington, District of Columbia* 

 (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 3-12.) 



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