COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 203 
such reports on their reception. It has not appeared to me, except, perhaps, in 
one case, and in that the conclusions of the Committee had not reached me, that 
there was occasion to present the reports until they had been discussed in the 
Academy itself, and the views had been adopted ; especially as this was, as I have 
said before, a first trial of the working of our organization. One of the committees 
thus acting has been able to meet so often, and with so many members at a 
meeting, as to show that in important cases, where consultation and discussion 
must be had, there will be little difficulty in effecting meetings; while in most 
cases correspondence amply suffices for the settlement of the questions involved, 
and to bring out the results in the form of a report with suggestions. 
“Tt will be seen by the spirit and words of our laws, enacted by the authority 
of the charter, that the members of the National Academy put their time and 
talents at the disposal of the country in no small or stinted measure, freely, fully, 
by the binding authority of an oath; asking no compensation therefor but the 
consciousness of contributing to judicious action by the government on matters 
of science. The more the wealth of such men can be drawn out from the 
treasury of their knowledge, the richer will the nation be; and I for one do not 
fear that even the suggestions which may be made to Congress on subjects in which 
that knowledge may be most profitably employed for our country and times, will 
be subject to any supposed taint of self-seeking as to power or influence. Subject 
to the taint of supposed desire for remuneration it cannot be, by our charter, and 
all our laws look away from such a center.” 1 
COMMITTEES APPOINTED BY THE ACADEMY ON BEHALF 
OF THE GOVERNMENT 
1. Committees appointed in accordance with Acts of Congress. 
1871. On the Transit of Venus (p. 256). 
1872. On Preparing Instructions for the Polaris Expedition (p. 40). 
1878. On a Plan for Surveying and Mapping the Territories of the 
United States (p. 268). 
1879. On a National Board of Health (p. 50). 
1894. To Prescribe and Publish Specifications for the Practical Appli- 
cation of the Definitions of the Ampere and Volt (p. 313). 
1908. On the Methods and Expenses of Conducting Scientific Work 
Under the Government (p. 330). 
2. Committees appointed at the request of Joint Commissions 
and Committees of Congress. 
1884. On the Signal Service of the Army, the Geological Survey, the 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Hydrographic Office of 
the Navy Department (p. 295). 
* Ann. Nat. Acad. Sci., 1863-6, pp. 49, 50. For an annotated list of committees to 1879, see 
Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1879, pp. 7-13. 
