Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-30
METHOD IN RESEARCH
WORKING OUT OF RESULTS rs
DEFECTIVE.
Need of Organization Pointed Out in
the Year Book ofthe Carnegie
Institution.

Official announcement ofSresearches along
various scientific lines Is made In the year
book for 1904, just issued by the Carnegie
Institution, considerable attention being de-
voted to the necessity Of methods and Or
ganization for promoting research IN the
exact sciences.
Prof. Simon Newcomb suggests that while
the nineteenth century has been industri-
ously piling up a vast mass of Astronomical
meteorological. magneffcaIl and sociological
observations and data at great expense the
world over, the working odt of results from
these. observations is defectlve and lacks
system To correct this he Urges the. organ
ization of an institute ar bureau Of exact
science in general. .theslead of which
should be aided by a council 'of' experts
picked from various countries TO ADVISE as
to the various departments at work, with d
view to reaching results at small expense
which, without such organization, never
would be reached. = ~ .
In this connection the approval has been
secured Of such men as Karl Pearson of the
University College of London, England:
Lord Rayleigh of the Royal Institution OF
Great Britain; G. H. Darwin OF Cambridge
and others. Mr.. Pearson says that at least
10 per- cent of the scientific observations
made and the data collected are worthless
and no man, however able. coulo ueuuce
any result from them at all
81 doubt" says he whether even smaii
nronortfon of the biometric data being ac-
cumulated in Europe and America coulo De
made to provide valuable results.
The Southern Observatory.
Discussing the Southern Observatory pro-
ject, the report says that under the grams
from the Carnegie Institution the direction
and velocity of the solar motions are being
determined from all available material. and
o1< of
for 5000 more of the, frequently op-
served stars. new determination Oh the
position of standard stars distributed from
the north to the south pole OF the heatenS
will be shortly undertaking. folioWins Win
the grantee intruSted with this work Say
he should like to take favorable station IN
the southern hemisphere either at San
Luis, in Argentina, or BloemlohteIu, "a
South Africa, for the observation OIL staIu
ard stars out of reach from stations III Tue
northern hemisphere. The need of speciai
observations of stars that have been neg
lected for the past twenty or thirty years
is also advocated
Systematic Magnetic Surveys.
The institutions department of 1nterna-
tional research in terrestrial magnetism
reports that it's Investigations show thaI
little progress has been made along that
line: that systematic magnetic surveys OF
the oceanic areas are entirely lacking anu
that despite the apparently vast accumu-
lation of data such an important question
as whether the earth's magnetic energy
Is increasing or decreasing and the an
nual rate of change cannot yet De Den
nitely answered. There has peeh Soii =.
paratiVely little increase in the past nan
century in the knowledge of the general
distribution of the earth's naShe'io
forces.
The institution has approved the gen
eral scheme of project for a,t nagne'ii II
survey of the North Pacific, althoush II
has not passed on the details. The pro-
ject as presented to the institution con.
templates the charter of WOODBURY.
non magnetic sailing vessel OF approx
mately 600 tons displaeepe4 to pursue
"clockwise spiral eolira ~ Sahbracing the
entire North Pacific hrk&H.& about t0oOV
knots being marked Ee4Es the conhdent
expectation is exprssss9 Eha aaas ~ a Sse
tortions and Irregularities IN the dlstri-
button of the earth, So All tism will be
revealed by this woEH ~ opportunity
given for investigatipM Inc effect or the
distribution iih of the nj Sa forces. Re-
ports have been freql{B% Ia 2eceiVed from
marines regarding IL &$B behavior of
the compasses, particH ri IN the region
of the Aleutian Isfan4 NH
Data obtained as TIT S&att Of circular
letters sent by the f. BE Rnd geodetlc
survey to ohservator&4 SfRr the entire
globe and turned ovG I'd The Carnegie
Institution regarding zthe Mont Pe!ee,
Martinique. eruption in 1902 show that
the time of the beginning of that mag
netic disturbance was {; practically the
same around the whole earth, and. sec
ond, that any efectrie-current system
capable of producing the observed phe-
nomena would have its seat chiefly OUT
side the earth.
Excavations in Turkestan.
The trans-Caspian archaeological ex-
petition for which the Institution appro-
priated $4,000, made excavations at
Anau. near Askhabad, Ii Turkestan. and
several shafts sunk on that ancient citys
site traversed over TO feet Of the ac-
foundations of successive generations OF
peoples and extended from recent times
down through the iron and bronze civiii-
nations forty-fve feet deep INTO tne