Ixvii 



In 1842, having completed the organization of the schools, and finding 

 that the Trustees of the College were still unprepared to open the Institu- 

 tion, he resigned all connexion v^^ith it, and yielded to the solicitations of 

 the Trustees of the University to return to his former chair of Natural 

 Philosophy and Chemistry. During his travels in Europe he provided 

 himself with portable instruments, and made a series of observations on 

 the dip and intensity of terrestrial magnetism at prominent points on the 

 Continent and in Great Britain, with the view of ascertaining the relative 

 intensity of the magnetic force in Europe and America. The observations 

 also served in most instances to settle with greater precision the magnetic 

 / condition of the points at which they were made. In the midst of the 

 labour of organizing the schools of Philadelpha he cooperated actively 

 with the British Association in determining the fluctuations of the magnetic 

 and meteorological elements of the globe by contemporaneous observations 

 at places widely separated from each other. He established an Observatory, 

 which was furnished with a complete series of the best instruments by the 

 Girard College, and was supported by the American Philosophical Society, 

 and a number of liberal and intelligent individuals. The observations, 

 which were continued at short intervals day and night for five years, form 

 a rich mine from which, until within the last few years of his life, he drew a 

 highly interesting series of results without exhausting the material. In 

 addition to these observations, he made during his summer vacations a 

 magnetic survey of Pennsylvania. 



In November 1843, on the occasion of the death of Mr. Hassler, he was 

 called to take charge of the United States Coast Survey. Though he 

 undertook the task with many misgivings, it may be truly said that no 

 other living man was so well qualified to secure the results which the nation 

 and its commercial interests demanded. His education at West Point, his 

 skill in original investigations, his thorough famiHarity with applied science, 

 his knowledge of the world and his gentlemanly deportment were all essen- 

 tial elements in the successful prosecution of the Survey. Besides these 

 qualifications he possessed rare executive ability, and governed and guided 

 the diverse elements of the vast undertaking with consummate tact and skill. 

 Quick to perceive and acknowledge merit in others, he rapidly gathered 

 around him a corps of men eminently well qualified for the execution of 

 the tasks to which he severally assigned them. Up to the time of the 

 appointment of Professor Bache little more than a beginning of the Survey 

 had been made. It extended only as far from New York harbour as Point 

 Judith on the east coast, and soufhward to Cape Henlopen. The new 

 Superintendent saw the necessity of greatly enlarging the plan so as to 

 embrace a much broader field than it had previously included. He divided 

 the whole coast-line into sections, and instituted under separate parties the 

 essential operations of the Survey simultaneously in each. He commenced 

 the exploration of the Gulf-stream, and at the same time projected a series 



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