CHAPTER IV 
THE ACADEMY AS THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISER OF 
THE GOVERNMENT 
HE Academy started out in the stormy days of the Civil 
War with the idea and the intention of helping the 
Government. It has helped the Government. Its re- 
ports have been accepted, its recommendations have been 
adopted, and the Government has shaped its course in several 
matters of importance in the light of the counsel which it 
received from the Academy. If it has not sought that counsel as 
frequently and as eagerly as the founders hoped and expected, 
the defection has been due rather to the changes which time has 
wrought in the public service, than to any lack of confidence in 
the counsellors. 
In an earlier chapter we have shown that the idea of helping 
the Government was prominent in the minds of some of the 
founders of the Academy, that it was incorporated in the charter 
and constitution, and that Professor Bache and others thought 
that in this direction lay a very important—if not the most im- 
portant, function of the Academy. It remains now to consider 
more in detail to what extent and on what subjects the advice of 
the Academy has been sought by the Government, how far its 
recommendations have been adopted, and what results have 
followed. It will be readily understood that with the increase 
of large scientific organizations in the country, the growth of 
public opinion relative to scientific matters of more or less 
practical importance, and the development of the scientific 
bureaus of the Government, it has happened less frequently that 
the Academy has stood alone in its recommendations. Even at 
the outset some of the committees appointed to consider questions 
of public policy were joint committees of the Academy and of 
other kindred organizations, or had among their members 
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