58o 
GEOPHYSICS: G. W. LITTLEHALES 
Proc. N. a. S. 
^ Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, 24, June, 1919 (96). 
7 See Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity, 19, 1914 (57-72, 189-203); 
also Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 4, 1914 (204-214). 
8 See Publications of St. Louis Congress of Arts and Science, 4, 1904 (750-756). 
^ Palmieri, L., "Osservaziones delle correnti telluriche," Rend. d'Acad. Napoli, 3, 
1890 (225, 250); 4 (164, 228); 5 (216). 
THE PROBLEMS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE SECTION OF 
PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF THE 
AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION 
By G. W. Litti^khaIvKS 
The former and present function of the ocean in the history of the earth 
and in its economy has forged bonds of kinship between oceanography 
and many other branches of science. Ever since the ocean became the 
world-encompassing highway of communication, its surface aspects, 
embracing the movements of the waters in waves, tides, and currents, 
have been subjects of observation. With the advance of the physical 
sciences and a knowledge of the extent of the ocean came the realization 
that so large an expanse of a substance having the highest known capacity 
for heat must, to a large extent, govern the external temperature of the 
earth and exercise an important influence as a factor in geophysics. 
But centuries of voyaging did not extend marine observations beyond 
the delineation of coasts and the service of navigation ; and, in the middle 
of the nineteenth century, the sea remained unfathomed, and the observa- 
tions of the physicist, the chemist, the geologist, and the biologist^did 
not extend beyond the shallow coastal waters. 
In setting forth the principal deep-sea expeditions, by nations and states, 
through the names of the vessels engaged and the period of their service, 
we shall serve ourselves the purpose of reflecting the progress of the at- 
tempts that have been made to ascertain the physical characteristics of 
that vast region of the earth's surface which is occupied by the deeper 
Fran^ais (1903-5). 
Germany 
National (1889). 
Valdivia (1898-9). 
Gauss (1901-3). 
Planet (1906-14). 
Great Britain 
Lightning (1868). 
Porcupine (1869-70). 
Challenger (1873-6). 
waters ^ of the ocean : 
Austria 
Pola (1891-1910). 
Belgium 
Belgica (1897-9). 
Denmark 
Ingolf (1895-6). 
France 
Caudan (1895). 
