I9IS.] BAUER— ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY. 15 



On Professor Rowland's motion the Congress resolved " that an 

 international commission be charged with determining the precise 

 methods of observation for atmospheric electricity, in order to gen- 

 eralize this study on the surface of the globe." 



Unfortunately, in the past, the observations in atmospheric elec- 

 tricity have often been found to be counterfeits of nature because 

 of the errors inherent in the instruments and methods used. Ac- 

 cordingly the much-desired discovery of nature's laws by "bringing 

 together observation and theory " has not been efifected in the 

 measure desired. None of the proposals for a general electric sur- 

 vey of the earth which have been made repeatedly to learned acad- 

 emies, one of the last having been presented to the International 

 Association of Academies, has been put into effect, doubtless be- 

 cause of the discouraging experiences encountered. 



In spite of the vast work already done by notable investigators, 

 we still have no generally accepted theory of the origin of atmos- 

 pheric electricity. 



Probably one of the most important of recent contributions to 

 the observational data is the series of observations obtained on the 

 past cruises of the Galilee and the Carnegie. A report giving the 

 results up to the end of 1913, obtained by the department observers 

 and others, was prepared by Dr. Hewlett and published in the Sep- 

 tember, 1914, issue of Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric 

 Electricity. The observations comprised, in addition to the usual 

 meteorological measurements, those of the potential gradient, at- 

 mospheric conductivity and radioactive content of the atmosphere. 

 Perhaps the most important result was a confirmation of the some- 

 what striking phenomenon, that while the conductivity over the 

 ocean is, on the average, at least as great as over land, the radio- 

 active content is much smaller. The values of the potential gra- 

 dient obtained at sea were of the same order of magnitude as those 

 on land. 



Dr. Swann has just completed a report on the atmospheric- 

 electric observations taken during the third cruise of the Carnegie 

 while under the command of Mr. J. T. Ault, in 1914. The general 

 course of the Carnegie during this cruise was as follows : Leaving 

 Brooklyn on June 8, 1914, she arrived at Hammerfest on July 3. 



