4i8 



NA TURE 



March 5, 1903 



and simply by the appointment of a single individual, in 

 whom responsibility could be fixed, and under whose 

 general direction the heads of the scientific departments 

 in the three portions of the United Kingdom would act, 

 a considerable measure of individual authority and ini- 

 tiative being at the same time accorded to each ? 



Whatever scheme may be adopted, it seems to me to 

 be the duty of all naturalists to insist that the prepon- 

 derating control of the investigations, as I have already 

 urged, shall be in the hands of recognised men of 

 science, for unless this is so there can be no guarantee 

 that they will be carried out by scientific methods and 

 with that accuracy and thoroughness without which 

 no results of any permanent value can ever be ob- 

 tained. E. J. Allen. 



MAGNETIC WORK IN NEW ZEALAND. 



"THE " Report of the Department of Lands and Survey, 



-*■ New Zealand," for 1901-2 contains an account of 



the new magnetic observatory erected in Christchurch, 



New Zealand, and of the magnetic work to be carried on 

 there under the direction of Dr. Coleridge Farr. The 

 site of the observatory buildings in Hagley Park appears, 

 from the illustrations in the Survey 

 " Report," to be one of considerable 

 natural beauty. It would also seem to 

 be very suitable from a magnetic stand- 

 point, if we may judge from the prelim- 

 inary survey carried out by Dr. Farr 

 in the neighbourhood of Dunedin, In- 

 vercargill, Nelson and Christchurch. Of 

 all the districts examined, he found the 

 vicinity of Christchurch the most free 

 from local disturbances. 



The observatory consists of three se- 

 parate buildings, externally of the Swiss 

 chalet type. Photographs of two of 

 these are here reproduced from the 

 Survey " Report." Fig. 1 shows the 

 magnetograph house, or, to be strictly 

 accurate, the superstructure above the 

 underground cellar in which the mag- 

 netographs are lodged. Fig. 2 shows 

 the office buildings, which also serve to 

 accommodate a seismograph. The third 

 building, not shown here, serves for the 

 taking of the absolute magnetic observa- 

 tions. 



The magnetic equipment of the observatory consists of 

 a self-recording magnetograph by Adie and a unifilar 

 magnetometer and dip circle by Dover, all of the ordinary 



NO. 1740, VOL. 67] 



Kew pattern, and examined, prior to their dispatch to 

 New Zealand, at the National Physical Laboratory (Kew 

 Observatory). In addition, Dr. Farr has temporarily the 

 loan of a second unifilar and dip circle belonging to the 

 Royal Society, intended primarily for survey work. Be- 

 sides the magnetic instruments, the observatory possesses 

 a Milne seismograph, a Kelvin water-dropper and two 

 portable electrometers, for determinations of atmospheric 

 electric potential, and a "dissipation apparatus " of the 

 type invented by Elster and Geitel for determining the 

 rate of loss of electric charges from an insulated body. 



After the arrival of the magnetograph in New Zealand, 

 Dr. Farr had the clock modified so as to allow of rapid 

 as well as slow rotation of the drum carrying the photo- 

 graphic paper. This slight modification — which has been 

 made independently by the directors of the Melbourne 

 and Mauritius Observatories — admits of open time-scale 

 traces being obtained as satisfactorily with the ordinary 

 Kew pattern magnetograph as with the newer types by 

 Eschenhagen and others. This modification has allowed 

 Dr. Farr to participate fully in the international scheme 

 of magnetic observations agreed on in connection with the 

 present German and British Antarctic expeditions. In 

 fact, during the call of the British vessel, the Disco-cry, 

 at New Zealand, he arranged with Commander Scott an 

 extension of the scheme of rapid registration, which it is 

 hoped may increase its usefulness. The modification of 

 the clock presented Dr. Farr with an opportunity of an 

 unexpected character, of which full use was made. 

 Zealously aided by his assistant, Mr. Skey — at what 

 must have been considerable personal inconvenience — he 

 succeeded in getting a practically continuous quick-run 

 record for eighty hours during the occurrence of a suc- 

 cession of earthquake shocks. Part of one of the mag- 

 netic curves is reproduced in the " Report," showing a 

 curious sinuous trace, and a complete comparison of the 

 corresponding records from the magnetograph and seis- 

 mograph may be expected to elicit valuable information 

 as to the nature and cause of the movement of magnets 

 at times of earthquake. The frequent repetition of such 

 an opportunity is, perhaps, hardly to be desired, but there 

 can be no doubt that in New Zealand, at least, the com- 

 bination of magnetic and seismological investigations is 

 a happy one. 



Previous to the existence of the new institution, there 

 was in the whole of Australasia only one magnetic 



^%L 



- - '':-' ^ib^ 



Fig. 2. — Office and Seismograph Room. 



observatory, that at Melbourne. This fact and the 

 general scarcity of such observatories in the southern 

 hemisphere make the observatory at Christchurch of 



