President's Address. vii 



Dr. A. Schmidt, of Potsdam, says : — 



"I have insisted for some time now on the necessity for the 

 establishment of a magnetic station at the Cape, and I propose to 

 address the International Magnetic Congress, which meets in Inns- 

 bruck this year (1905), on a scheme of my own in which, among other 

 things, I point out the necessity of such a station in Cape Colony." 



In another part of his letter Dr. Schmidt expresses his surprise 

 that Cape Colony has not at least one first-class meteorological 

 station. " Every European state — even the smallest and the 

 poorest — has such stations, and everywhere the importance of a 

 good meteorological station is recognised." 



It would only weary you were I to read what men like Lord 

 Kelvin, Sir Arthur Eiicker, Monsieur Mascart, Professor Schuster 

 and Captain Creak have said, all to the same effect. 



Although this Colony lacks a properly equipped station such as 

 other civilised states have, yet a great amount of valuable work has 

 been done. I had intended to give a summary of this, but that 

 would carry me too far and try too much your patience. I hope that 

 some day a South African meteorologist will take up the story of the 

 work in that subject, which has been carried out by observers in 

 South Africa. I myself can to-night only give you a rough outline 

 of what has been done in the other three subjects I have mentioned. 

 Unfortunately in gravitation and in atmospheric electricity the 

 record is very short. So far as I know gravitational observations 

 have been made only at the Eoyal Observatory ; there has been no 

 attempt at a gravitational survey. A surface survey would give us 

 much valuable information ; and in Johannesburg and Kimberley it 

 could be supplemented by observations at considerable depth below 

 the surface. 



In atmospheric electricity I know of no observations other than a 

 set taken by Mr. Lyle at the Grey College, Bloemfontein, and 

 another set taken by Mr. Logemann at the South African College in 

 Capetown. 



The work in earth magnetism began as long ago as 1595. In that 

 year the declination was observed at Mossel Bay by Houtman while 

 on a voyage to the East Indies. From that date to the present 

 time observations have been made at irregular intervals at different 

 points on the coast from Saldanha Bay to Delagoa Bay. Observa- 

 tions have also been made by surveyors in different parts of the 

 interior. Mr. J. J. Bosman has been good enough to supply me 

 with a list of these ; and the three diagrams you see here represent 

 the magnetic state of the country at three different epochs, as derived 

 from these observations. 



