312 ' CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



various changes of the Earth's magnetism and the ascertaining of 

 their causes. 



Professor Arthur Schuster, in his address on ''International Co- 

 operation in Research" before the National Academy of Sciences in 

 April 1913, when referring to international work in terrestrial mag- 

 netism, made the following remark: 



"Through the magnificent efforts of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 

 we are at last likely to have a satisfactory magnetic survey of the world, but 

 important as the results obtained by Professor Bauer in the Carnegie will prove 

 to be, they will have to be supplemented by systematic observations of the 

 variations of the magnetic forces at a number of fixed stations. Many such 

 stations are in existence, though they are very irregularly distributed over the 

 surface of the Earth." 



It may be recalled that Schuster's suggestion had already been 

 included in the original scope of the work of the Department under the 

 heading of "International Observations of the Variations of the Earth's 

 Magnetism" (see Year Book No. 2, 1903, p. 204). While the inaugura- 

 tion of active observational work under this heading had to be deferred, 

 owing to the heavy expense entailed during the first decade of the 

 Department's existence in providing the necessary permanent faciUties, 

 such as a non-magnetic ship, office headquarters and research build- 

 ings, instrumental equipments, etc., certain preparatory investigations 

 relating to the successful study of the Earth's magnetic variations have 

 been in progress. 



But the time is now ripe for the early establishment by the Depart- 

 ment of well-equipped observatories, if the requisite financial support 

 is received from the Institution, at which continuous records may be 

 obtained of the variations in the Earth's magnetic, as well as in its 

 electrical, condition. These observatories might appropriately be 

 called cosmophysical observatories, in contradistinction to astronomical 

 or astrophysical observatories. For the belief is becoming current more 

 and more that fluctuations in the Earth's magnetism, or in the Earth's 

 electricity, not only contain in them secrets pertaining to physical 

 changes going on within our own planet, but within the universe. 

 Recent studies (see p. 330) indicate, furthermore, that the Earth's 

 magnetic state may respond in a most sensitive manner to changes in 

 solar radiation. 



There is need for the early establishment of such cosmophysical 

 observatories, in suitable number and in suitable places, for various 

 reasons. The hope of the Department that the various resolutions 

 passed by international scientific bodies during the past decade and the 

 memorials addressed by noted investigators to their respective coun- 

 tries setting forth the desirability of the establishment of such observa- 

 tories would bear fruit, has come practically to naught. During this 

 period, the number of new observatories founded is one or two, instead 



