Intriguing distractions

One of the things I have been reading in the process of learning the things I need to know for my new job is the book "Description of regional geological and geophysical maps of the Skellefte District and surrounding areas" A comment in the introduction caught my eye "Application of geophysical methods in metal exploration started more than three centuries ago in Sweden. Magnetic methods were in use as early as 1640.".

Sadly, the paragraph did not list a source for this information. However I see that one of the editors of the book is my boss, so I have emailed him to ask if he happens to know of the source. I did see a couple of books from the 1800's cited in the bibliography, so perhaps one of them could be the source. It looks like our library might have them, but they are in Swedish. While my language learning has gotten good enough to easily read children's books and books that I have read before in English, I fear that I am not up to trying to track down obscure references to magnetic methods which were in use in the 1640's. So instead I will make note of it here—perhaps next year I will be fluent enough to chase up that information, if my boss doesn't have a useful reply (he is traveling now—he has been at a conference all week).

Ok, back to real work, the clock is ticking…