Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/112

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108
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
Fig. 3. The Non-magnetic Yacht Carnegie.

downward at one pole, vertically upward at the other, and horizontally at the equator. A dip needle, used to map the lines of force of the earth, is shown on the screen. I have chosen for illustration an instrument designed for use at sea, on the non-magnetic yacht Carnegie (Fig. 3), partly because the equipment used by Dr. Bauer in his extensive surveys represents the best now in use, and also because I wish to contrast the widely different means employed by the Carnegie Institution for the investigation of solar and terrestrial magnetic phenomena. The support of the dip-needle is hung in gimbals, so that observations may be taken when the ship's deck is inclined. The smallest possible amount of metal enters into the construction of this vessel, and where its use could not be avoided, bronze was employed instead of iron or steel. She is thus admirably adapted for magnetic work, as is shown by the observations secured on voyages already totaling more than 100,000 miles. Her work is supplemented by that of land parties, bearing instruments to remote regions where magnetic observations have never before been made.

The dip-needle clearly shows that the earth is a magnet, for it behaves in nearly the same way as the little needle used in our experiment with the magnetized sphere. But the magnetic poles of the earth do not coincide with the geographical poles. The north magnetic pole, discovered by Ross and last visited by Amundsen in 1903, lies near Baffin's Bay, in latitude 70° north, longitude 97° west. The position of the south magnetic pole, calculated from observations made in its vicinity by Captain Scott, of glorious memory, in his expedition of 1901–04, is 72° 50′ south latitude, 153° 45′ east longitude. Thus the two magnetic poles are not only displaced about 30° from the geograph-