DEPARTMENT OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 315 



MAGNETIC SURVEY OF LAND AREAS. 



In spite of the adverse conditions prevailing in certain regions on 

 account of the war, the work of the following magnetic expeditions was 

 successfully concluded: 



1. A trip of about 2,500 miles, from April to August 1915, through 



Central Brazil from Rio de Janeiro to Goyaz and down the Araguaya 

 and Tocantins Rivers to Para, under the leadership of Observer D. 

 W. Berky. 



2. Interior trips in Southern China and Mongolia, under the direction of 



Dr. C. K. Edmunds, assisted by Observer F. Brown. 



3. Closing of the general magnetic survey of Australia, under the charge 



of Observer E. Kidson, assisted by Observers Parkinson, Kennedy, 

 and Brown. 



4. Trips to the outlying islands of Australasia and to various groups in the 



West Pacific, by Observer W. C. Parkinson. 



5. Completion of interior trips in the Belgian Kongo and Angola, and of 



a series of magnetic stations along the southwest coast of Africa, by 

 Observer D. M. Wise. 



WORK IN WASHINGTON. 

 RESEARCH BUILDINGS. 



The interior installations of the buildings at Washington, D. C, 

 referred to in the report of last year, were practically completed, so that 

 on December 11, 1914, the Trustees, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. 

 Carnegie and invited guests, could formally inspect the new buildings. 

 The erection of the proposed tower observatory, 80 feet above the 

 ground, for observations in atmospheric electricity, was deferred, 

 pending completion of experiments in an improvised structure on the 

 deck of the main laboratory building. 



TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 



Volume II of Publication No. 175, bearing the title " Land Magnetic 

 Observations 1911 to 1913, and Reports on Special Researches by L. A. 

 Bauer and J. A. Fleming," was issued by the Institution in August 1915. 

 (See abstract, page 329.) The appearance of this volume was con- 

 siderably delayed by lack of promptness on the part of some directors 

 of magnetic observatories in transmitting desired data with reference 

 to the intercomparisons of magnetic standards. 



Of the special reports in this volume, the most important is the one 

 on pages 211-278, "Results of Comparisons of Magnetic Standards, 

 1 905-1 914." It summarizes the results of the various intercomparisons 

 of magnetic standards obtained by the observers of the Department 

 up to the end of 1914, the world over, both at magnetic observatories 

 and in the field among themselves. It is the most complete under- 

 taking of this kind and furnishes valuable data for the correlation of 

 magnetic work by others with that of the Department. It has also 

 served to point out sources of important instrumental errors at certain 



