522 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



terials and forces. In modern times the knowledge is organized in 

 science, and both knowledge and control are gained and promoted by 

 institutions. In leading nations these institutions are partly volun- 

 tary associations of individuals, and partly governmental agencies. 

 During recent decades the knowledge is not merely imparted, but 

 measurably gained by educational institutions. 



In the United States the earth beneath the surface is investigated 

 by geological surveys, state and federal; the surface is surveyed chiefly 

 by the Geological Survey and Land Office of the Interior Department, 

 the Soil Bureau of the Agricultural Department and the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with cor- 

 responding instrumentalities in some states; and the life and growth 

 on the surface are investigated chiefly by the Forest Service, the Bio- 

 logical Survey and the Bureau of Entomology, so far as natural con- 

 ditions are concerned, and by the Bureau of Plant Industry, the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry and the Office of Experiment Stations, so far as 

 artificial conditions are concerned, with related instrumentalities in 

 several states. The air in its general aspects and the water in its forms 

 and certain functions are investigated in the Weather Bureau; as 

 vehicles for movement of other things they are investigated in the 

 Geological Survey and some state institutions; in their primary rela- 

 tion to life and growth they are investigated chiefly in the Bureau of 

 Soils, the Office of Experiment Stations and other branches of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and in the Eeclamation Service of the 

 Interior Department; and in their immediate relation to life and 

 growth they are investigated chiefly in the Forest Service, the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, the Bureau of Animal Industry and the Bureau of 

 Fisheries, while the running and standing water in certain applica- 

 tions are considered in the Hydrographic branch of the Geological 

 Survey, the Corps of Engineers of the War Department, the Hydro- 

 graphic Office of the Navy Department and the Bureau of Corpora- 

 tions in the Department of Commerce and Labor. The general rela- 

 tions of the sun are investigated in the Naval Observatory of the Navy 

 Department, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau and 

 the Smithsonian Institution; the relations to the surface and its life 

 and growth are considered in the Bureau of Soils ; and the more direct 

 relations to life and growth are considered in the Forest Service, the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, the Bureau of Animal Industry and other 

 branches of the Department of Agriculture. 



So far as the federal government is concerned, the four natural 

 elements of power and prosperity are investigated or considered in 

 themselves or in their applications chiefly in a score of bureaus in five 

 departments, as follows: 



