On that paper the never-resting heart of the earth is now
tracing, in telegraphic symbols which will one day be interpreted, a
record of its pulsations and its flutterings, as well as of that slow
but mighty working which warns us that we must not suppose that the
inner history of our planet is ended.
But this great experimental research on Terrestrial Magnetism produced
lasting effects on the progress of science in general. I need only
mention one or two instances. The new methods of measuring forces
were successfully applied by Weber to the numerical determination of
all the phenomena of electricity, and very soon afterwards the
electric telegraph, by conferring a commercial value on exact
numerical measurements, contributed largely to the advancement, as
well as to the diffusion of scientific knowledge.
But it is not in these more modern branches of science alone that this
influence is felt. It is to Gauss, to the Magnetic Union, and to
magnetic observers in general, that we owe our deliverance from that
absurd method of estimating forces by a variable standard which
prevailed so long even among men of science.
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