Abstract
ON the occasion of the centennial celebration of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, held in April, 1916, Dr. L. A. Bauer delivered an address on the work done by the Survey in terrestrial magnetism, which has now been separately published. Dr. Bauer was himself in charge of the magnetic work of the Survey from 1899 to 1906, and was largely responsible for its greatly increased activity during the present century. Up to the end of 1915 the Purvey had made magnetic observations at 5500 land stations, and its ships had taken many observations at sea, while five magnetic observatories were in constant operation. Magnetic charts of much increased accuracy had been published for the United States, and a reduced copy of the chart for 1915 is included in the publication. Dr. Bauer advocates the erection of a new magnetic observatory in the Panama zone, and the uninterrupted maintenance of the existing observatories for a number of years. He expresses some interesting opinions as to the relative importance of theory and observation, which, coming from a man of his great experience, deserve careful consideration. “All experience,” he says, “tends to show that, instead of looking upon the establishment of a theory as the goal of an investigation, it should ever be regarded merely as a means to the goal, the advancement of human knowledge.” He speaks with feeling of the “uselessness of empirical formulas for the purposes of prediction “(of secular change), and his final advice to the superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey is “continued, unceasing, and intelligent observation.”
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Terrestrial Magnetism. Nature 100, 54 (1917). https://doi.org/10.1038/100054a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/100054a0