578 



SCIENCE 



[N. b. Vol. XXVII. No. 693 



braced magnetic surveys of the North 

 Pacific Ocean; surveys on land in Alaska, 

 Bermuda Islands, Canada, Central Amer- 

 ica, China, Mexico and South Pacific 

 Islands; and office work combined with 

 special observational studies at Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



The ship Galilee, used in the magnetic 

 survey of the Pacific, started from San 

 Diego, California, on her third cruise on 

 December 22, 1906. Sailing by way of the 

 Marquesas Islands, Samoan Islands and 

 Yap Island, she arrived at Shanghai, May 

 8, 1907. From this point she sailed east 

 to Midway Islands, and thence to Sitka, 

 where she arrived July 14, 1907. Leaving 

 Sitka, August 10, she started on a cruise 

 to the South Pacific by way of Honolulu, 

 Jaluit, Marshall Islands and New Zealand ; 

 returning thence by way of CaUao to San 

 Francisco. It is expected that she will 

 complete this cruise about May 1, 1908, 

 when she will be returned to her owners. 



Up to September 1, 1907, the Galilee had 

 traversed nearly 50,000 miles in the Pacific 

 Ocean along courses where few magnetic 

 observations have been made hitherto. 

 Complete measurements of magnetic dec- 

 lination, dip and intensity were secured at 

 intervals of 200 to 250 miles along these 

 courses, as well as at numerous points on 

 islands and at prominent ports. All of the 

 results of this extensive survey available in 

 March of the present year were furnished 

 to the U. S. Navy Department and incor- 

 porated in a magnetic chart issued in May 

 last by that department for the benefit of 

 mariners. Important errors in previous 

 charts, amounting in cases to as much as 

 5° in magnetic declination along some main 

 routes of transportation, were thus cor- 

 rected. 



For an account of the work done at the 

 numerous and widely separated land sta- 

 tions during the year, reference must be 

 made to the director's report to be found 



on pp. 154-166 of this volume. Similar 

 reference must be made also for an account 

 of the computations and special investiga- 

 tions carried on at the office by Dr. Bauer 

 and his staff. Attention js invited likewise 

 to the annual bibliography for a list of the 

 departmental publications. One of the 

 latter, however, is worthy of special men- 

 tion and commendation here, namely, a 

 quarto volume of 629 pages, giving the 

 detailed results of the magnetic, tidal, 

 astronomical, and meteorological observa- 

 tions made by Mr. W. J. Peters while serv- 

 ing as a member of the Ziegler Polar Ex- 

 pedition of 1903-5. Mr. Peters has been 

 in charge of the Galilee since January, 

 1906, and as his duties at sea have pre- 

 vented him from attending to the publica- 

 tion of his work, the task of editor has 

 been assumed by his colleague, Mr. John 

 A. Fleming. The handsome volume issued 

 under Mr. Fleming's editorship has been 

 published under the auspices of the 

 National Geographic Society by the estate 

 of "William Ziegler. 



RESEARCHES UNDER MINOR GRANTS 



Many researches begun by aid of minor 

 grants made during the past six years 

 have been carried forward during the cur- 

 rent year. Twenty-one volumes giving the 

 results of these researches have been pub- 

 lished during the year, and several more 

 are in press. In addition, as may be seen 

 by reference to the bibliography on pages 

 46-54, many briefer or preliminary papers 

 have been published in journals. 



A list of the volumes issued during the 

 year will be found in the next section of 

 this report. Of the works in press, atten- 

 tion may be called here to a second volume 

 giving the archeological and physiograph- 

 ical results of explorations in Turkestan 

 under the direction of Professor Raphael 

 Pumpelly ; to two works on engineering, on 



