8 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Executive, who furnish the means for the inquiries. ‘The detail of such an 
organization could be marked out so as to secure efficiency without centralization, 
and constant labor with its appropriate results. The public treasury would be 
saved many times the support of such a council, by the sound advice which it 
would give in regard to the various projects which are constantly forced upon 
their notice, and in regard to which they are now compelled to decide without 
the knowledge which alone can ensure a wise conclusion. The men of science who 
are at the seat of government either constantly or temporarily, are too much 
occupied in the special work which belongs to their official occupations to answer 
such a purpose; besides, the additional responsibility which, if they were called 
together, they must necessarily bear, would prove too great a burthen, considering 
the fervid zeal, and I might almost say fierceness, with which questions of interest 
are pursued and the very extraordinary means resorted to to bring about a 
successful conclusion. . .. . 
“ Our country is making such rapid progress in material improvements, that it 
is impossible for either the legislative or executive departments of our Government 
to avoid incidentally, if not directly, being involved in the decision of such 
questions. Without specification, it is easy to see that there are few applications 
of science which do not bear on the interests of commerce and navigation, naval 
or military concerns, the customs, the light-houses, the public lands, post-offices 
and post-roads, either directly or remotely. If all examination is refused, the 
good is confounded with the bad, and the Government may lose a most important 
advantage. If a decision is left to influence, or to imperfect knowledge, the worst 
consequences follow. 
“Such a body would supply a place not occupied by existing institutions, and 
which our own is, from its temporary and voluntary character, not able to 
supply.” 14 
This declaration, which foreshadows so much of the program 
of the National Academy organized twelve years later, must 
have been well known to Admiral (then Lieutenant) Davis. 
Indeed, it is probable that he listened to Professor Bache’s ad- 
dress when delivered in Albany, as he was present at the meeting 
and read a paper himself on the solar eclipse of July 28, 1851. 
The claim of Davis, therefore, was not that he was the first to 
detect the need of a national academy of science, or to outline its 
proper character and scope, but that he first hit on a practical 
plan for bringing it into existence and for securing the initial 
membership. 
“Proc. Amer. Assoc. Advance. Sci., 6th Meeting, 1851 (1852), pp. xlvii-li. 
