246 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



the tasks assumed as some existing magnetic institutions have at their 

 disposal for their more limited tasks. Hence, it has been necessary 

 at all times to plan and execute the world-wide work of the Depart- 

 ment with careful regard to all details and with rigid economy. The 

 cost of such extensive expeditions as the Department has sent out, 

 as for example, the crossing of China from east to west, the trans- 

 Saharan expedition, the crossing of equatorial Africa from west to 

 east, the interior expeditions in AustraUa and South America, the 

 canoeing expeditions in British North America, the ocean magnetic 

 surveys, have almost invariably been less than that estimated, some- 

 times by as much as 50 per cent, by government authorities or travelers 

 famihar with the region to be traversed, or as judged by the costs of 

 previous similar expeditions. 



GRANTS. 



At the beginning, the Department hoped that it would be possible 

 to have some of its work economically and expeditiously accomphshed 

 by means of grants to individuals connected with official institutions. 

 In all, four main grants were made. The experience, however, has not 

 been wholly satisfactory and it has been found necessary, therefore, 

 to discontinue making these subventions. 



SPECIAL COOPERATIVE WORK. 



The Department has been fortunate in the voluntary cooperation 

 secured from institutions the world over in cases of special work. 

 Thus a vast amount of published data have been accumulated bearing 

 on the question of possible magnetic and electric effects during times 

 of total solar eclipses. By arranging for a definite program, limited 

 in its scope by the available personnel and instrumental outfits, world- 

 embracing observational data were obtained generally with very 

 gratifying promptness. 



COMPARISONS OF INSTRUMENTS. 



Equally satisfactory cooperation as that mentioned in the previous 

 paragraph has been received by the Department from magnetic insti- 

 tutions the world over in the matter of intercomparisons of respective 

 magnetic instruments. The observers of the Department have com- 

 pared the instruments used by them with those used at foreign magnetic 

 observatories or in magnetic-survey work by other organizations, so 

 that for the first time it will be possible to reduce nearly all the observa- 

 tional data obtained during 1904-1918, by the Department and diverse 

 organizations, to a common basis within an error generally less than 

 the observational error. The aim on the part of the Department has 

 been to make such a selection of a common standard, based on these 

 world-embracing intercomparisons, as would amply meet the prac- 

 tical requirements for the purpose intended. 



