ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth century, with the support of leading scholars and of the Russian and British governments, a network of measuring stations was set up where the earth's magnetic field was measured continually in a uniform manner. In the nineteenth century, specialized clinics came into existence, for ophthalmology, for instance, or paediatrics and obstetrics, as well as sanatoria for consumptives. Science would be a force for the improvement of the world and the conditions of human life. Science must be put at the service of general wellbeing. Researchers had to adjust to the demands made of them, and with the rationalization of society, science became a form of business. Most researchers who were allied to museums, botanical gardens, observatories, weather stations or hospitals never made spectacular discoveries or developed important new theories. The existence of a multiplicity of measurement systems is impractical, especially for trade.
