488 EDITOR'S NOTES. 



of the former. The study of the occasional disturbances 

 was therefore taken up at the point to which it had 

 been carried by the German Association. The ques- 

 tions, of general contemporaneous occurrence, and of 

 the degree of simultaneity and accordance in individual 

 fluctuations of the disturbed magnets, were examined 

 at observatories established in Africa and America, as 

 well as in Europe, in the northern and southern hemis- 

 pheres, and in the tropics, by observations of the three 

 elements at short intervals, at preconcerted instants of 

 absolute time, as well as generally on all occasions when 

 fluctuations of more than usual amount presented them- 

 selves in the course of the regular hourly registration. 

 The result of this examination was conclusive in refer- 

 ence to the contemporaneous occurrence of the phe- 

 nomena in all parts of the globe. Not only were the 

 same days characterised in the records of the different 

 observatories as being "days of unusual disturbance," 

 but even the degree assigned to the disturbance, as 

 "excessive," "great," or "moderate," was usually the 

 same at stations most distant from each other. The 

 instants of extreme disturbance in one of the elements 

 in one part of the globe were frequently as nearly iden- 

 tical as the nature of the observation permitted, with 

 those of the same or another element in a very distant 

 part ; and the culminating points of minor fluctuations 

 as frequently exhibited a degree of accordance cha- 

 racteristic of the existence of general affections, extend- 

 ing simultaneously over the whole surface of the globe, 

 but ' influencing the magnetic elements variously, ac- 

 cording, possibly, to the geographical position of the 

 station, or to its distance and direction from the locali- 



