It is now a well-established fact that the sun's magnetic field exerts a powerful influence over the condition of the earth's magnetic field, and that vast solar disturbances affect very materially the direction and intensity of the lines of force. It is thus little wonder that this non-homogeneous and rapidly rotating terrestrial globe, surrounded by an electrified atmosphere and subject to the action of a still more powerful magnet, the sun, should not behave in a manner exactly analogous to a uniformly magnetized steel sphere. The earth's magnetic poles are neither symmetrically placed nor absolutely fixed in position. There is every reason to suspect that they shift about from year to year, and possibly fluctuate irregularly in position in the course of a few days or hours under the influence of disturbing forces. The position of the earth's North Magnetic Pole, last visited by Amundsen in 1903, now lies approximately in Latitude 70° N. Longitude 97° W. The position of the South Magnetic Pole, according to the latest determinations, is, in round numbers, in Latitude 73° S. and Longitude 156° E. of Greenwich. It is evident, therefore, that the magnetic poles of the earth are not symmetrically placed and that they lie fully 30° from the _geographical_ poles. The chord connecting the magnetic poles passes 750 miles from the earth's center, and it is about 1,200 miles from the geographic pole to the nearest magnetic pole. There exist, moreover, in high latitudes local magnetic poles, due possibly to heavy local deposits of ore. One such pole was discovered at Cape Treadwell, near Juneau, Alaska, during Dr. L. A. Bauer's observations there in 1900 and 1907. In the center of the observing tent at this point the needle pointed vertically downward and the compass _reversed_ its direction when carried from one side of the tent to the other.