TERRESTRIAL MAHNETISM. 179 



When the needle, by its sudden disturbance in its horary 

 course, indicates the presence of a magnetic storm, we are 

 stiJl unfortunately ignorant whether the seat of the disturbing 

 cause is to be sought in the Earth itself or in the upper re- 

 gions of the atmosphere. If we regard the Earth as a true 

 magnet, we are obliged, according to the views entertained 

 by Friedrich Gauss (the acute propounder of a general theory 

 of terrestrial magnetism), to ascribe to every portion of the 

 globe measuring one eighth of a cubic meter (or Sy'^-ths of a 

 French cubic foot) in volume, an average amount of magnet- 

 ism equal to that contained in a magnetic rod of 1 lb. weight.* 

 If iron and nickel, and probably, also, cobalt (but not chrome, 

 as has long been believed),! are the only substances which 

 become permanently magnetic, and retain polarity from a 

 certain coercive force, the phenomena of Arago's magnetism 

 of rotation and of Faraday's induced currents show, on the 

 other hand, that all telluric substances may possibly be made 

 transitorily magnetic. According to the experiments of the 



I have observed a variation of the magnetic inclination amounting to 

 9° (centesimal division) ; and from Callao to Guayaquil, which differ in 

 latitude by 9° 50', a variation of 23^-5. (See my Relat. Hist., t. iii., 

 p. 622.) At Guarmey (10° 4' south lat.), Huaura (11° 3' south lat.), 

 and Chancay (11° 32' south lat.), the incHnations are 6°-80, 9°, and 

 10°-3.5 of the centesimal division. The determination of position by 

 means of the magnetic inclination has this remarkable feature connected 

 with it, that where the ship's course cuts the isoclinal line almost per- 

 pendicularly, it is the only one that is independent of all determination 

 of time, and, consequently, of observations of the sun Or stars. It is 

 only lately that I discovered, for the first time, that as eaiiy as at the 

 close of the sixteenth century, and consequently hardly twenty years 

 after Robert Norman had invented the inclinatorium, William Gilbert, 

 in his gi-eat work De Magnete, proposed to determine the latitude by 

 the inclination of the magnetic needle. Gilbert {Physiologia Nova de 

 Magneie, lib. v., cap. 8, p. 200) commends the method as applicable 

 " a^re caliginoso." Edward Wright, in the introduction which he 

 added to his master's great work, describes this proposal as " worth 

 much gold." As he fell into the same error with Gilbert, of presum 

 ing that the isoclinal lines coincided with the geographical parallel 

 circles, and that the magnetic and geographical equators were identic- 

 al, he did not perceive that the proposed method had only a local and 

 very limited application. 



* Gauss and Weber, Resvltate des Magnet. Vereins, 1838, § 31, s. 146. 



+ According to Faraday (London and Edinburgh Philosophical Maga- 

 zine, 1836, vol. viii., p. 178), pure cobalt is totally devoid of magnetic 

 power. I know, however, that other celebrated chemists (Heinrich 

 Rose and Wohler) do not admit this as absolutely certain. If out of 

 two cai-efuUy-purified masses of cobalt totally free from nickel, one ap- 

 pears altogether non-magnetic (in a state of equilibrium), I think it 

 probable that the other owes its m;ignetic property to a want of purity ; 

 and this opinion coincides with Faraday's view. 



