GENERAL RESULTS OF THE WORK IN ATMOSPHERIC 

 ELECTRICITY ABOARD THE CARNEGIE, 190^1914. 



By L. a. BAUER. 

 {Read April 24, 191 5.) 



Notable progress, it is believed, has been achieved by the de- 

 partment of terrestrial magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington during the past year in the perfection of the instru- 

 mental appliances for observations in atmospheric electricity. In 

 various articles by Drs. Swann and Hewlett, which have appeared 

 in the Journal of Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Elec- 

 tricity, 1913-1914, new points of theory were brought out, serious 

 errors in certain instruments were made known, and improved 

 methods and instruments were devised. As a result considerable 

 improvement has been made in the work in atmospheric electricity 

 aboard the Carnegie, especially on her present cruise. 



It is now deemed worth while to expand the work of the depart- 

 ment in atmospheric electricity in two directions: (a) Continuous 

 observations, by self-recording means, at the department's labora- 

 tory in Washington and at such observatories elsewhere as the de- 

 partment may be able to establish in the near future, {h) A gen- 

 eral electric survey of the globe, implying observations at points 

 distributed over the earth's surface, somewhat as in a magnetic 

 survey. 



Probably the late Professor Rowland was one of the first, in his 

 address before the Congress of Electricians, held at Paris, Septem- 

 ber, 1881, to point out the need in atmospheric electricity "of a 

 series of general and accurate experiments performed simultaneously 

 on a portion of the earth's surface as extended as possible."^ He 

 says that " the principal aim of scientific investigation is to be able 

 to understand more completely the laws of nature, and we generally 

 succeed in doing this by bringing together observation and theory." 



1 Physical Papers of Henry A. Rowland, Baltimore, 1902, p. 212 et seq. 



14 



