278 Comparison of Gauss'' s Theory of 



The creative spirit that broods over nature and has clothed matter in 

 the trarb of time, not only confers on each special being its special fea- 

 tures and functions, but links it in long and mysterious relationship to 

 others, past and to come, thus elaborating in the longest periods the 

 highest generalizations. To discover and read the laws which have 

 controlled the successive aspects of life upon this planet, is to recog- 

 nize perhaps the very loftiest class of physical truths which human re- 

 search can ever hope to unfold. 



But, gentlemen, I must desist, having already exceeded my just limits. 

 I pause because my pages are full, and not because my topics are ex- 

 hausted. So extensive is the harvest which the geologists of the United 

 States have of late been reaping, that I have not found it practicable to 

 count over all the gathered store, or mention more than a portion of the 

 products of some of the richest fields. This creditable accession to 

 the scientific wealth of the country, the fruit in part of liberal legisla- 

 tion, owes much of its value to the intrepid zeal and the excellent spirit 

 of mutual fellowship and cooperation enlisted in producing it. What- 

 ever may be the scientific worth of the discoveries made in this and 

 other paths of knowledge, or however cheering the prospect of the yet 

 ampler developments that will surely attend future enquiry, let us not 

 forget that to win for our labors the approval of the wise and good, they 

 must bear the seal not only of physical but of moral truth ; must show, 

 as I trust they do, that in studying Nature's great laws, while our per- 

 ceptions of the beautiful have been quickened, and our reason disci- 

 plined, the yet diviner faculties of our being have been exercised in the 

 cultivation of a generous charity and a mutual kindness. 



Art. IV. — Comparison of Gausses Theory of Terrestrial Mag- 

 netism with observation ; by Elias Loomis, Professor of Math- 

 ematics and Natural Philosophy in the University of the city 

 of New York. 



[Communicated to the Conn. Acad, of Arts and Sciences, July 23, 1844.] 



The appearance of a general theory of terrestrial magnetism 

 from a name so celebrated as that of Gauss, furnishing the three 

 elements of Yariation, Dip, and Intensity, if not with an accuracy 

 equal to that of observation, at least with an approximation af- 

 fording a very good general representation of the phenomena, 

 and by a method independent of any particular hypothesis as to 



