X INTRODUCTION. 



To enlist the service of such a large corps of observers, and to 

 have the attention of so many clever and observant men directed 

 to the same subject, was a great point gained : it was a giant 

 stride in the advancement of knowledge, and a great step toward 

 its spread upon the waters. 



Important results soon followed, and great discoveries were 

 made. These attracted the attention of the commercial world, 

 and did not escape the notice of philosophers every where. 



The field was immense, the harvest was plenteous, and there 

 was both need and room for more laborers. Whatever the reap- 

 ers should gather, or the merest gleaner collect, was to inure to the 

 benefit of commerce and navigation — the increase of knowledge — 

 the good of all. 



Therefore, all who use the sea were equally interested in the 

 undertaking. The government of the United States, so consider- 

 ing the matter, proposed a uniform system of observations at sea, 

 and invited all the maritime states of Christendom to a conference 

 upon the subject. 



This conference, consisting of representatives from France, En- 

 gland and Kussia, from Sweden and Norway, Holland, Denmark, 

 Belgium, Portugal, and the United States, met in Brussels, August 

 23, 1853, and recommended a plan of observations which should be 

 followed on board the vessels of all friendly nations, and especial- 

 ly of those there present in the persons of their representatives. 



Prussia, Spain, Sardinia, the Holy See, the free city of Ham- 

 burg, the republics of Bremen and Chili, and the empires of Aus- 

 tria and Brazil, have since offered their co-operation also in the 

 same plan. 



Thus the sea has been brought regularly within the domains of 

 philosophical research, and crowded with observers. 



In peace and in war these observations are to be carried on ; 

 and, in case any of the vessels on board of which they are con- 

 ducted may be captured, the abstract log — as the journal which 

 contains these observations is called — is to be held sacred. 



Baron Humboldt is of opinion that the results already obtained 

 from this system of researcli are sufficient to give rise to a new de- 

 partment of science, which he has called tlic Physical Geogra- 



