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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



traverse the ocean, to test the best methods 

 by which $2,000,000,000 of values shall be 

 carried from the West to the East, from the 

 East across the Atlantic, or from the shores 

 of China and Japan to the Pacific coast, 

 and thence across the country, was the busi- 

 ness of the Coast Survey. All the United 

 States is deeply interested in every part of 

 this subject. Every ship that is lost by im- 

 perfectly-surveyed harbors is a loss to the 

 whole country. A few great harbors New 

 York, Boston, Savannah, San Francisco 

 are vital points of commerce. The mer- 

 chants of those cities are ever ready, by ex- 

 tending wharves and pushing out piers, to 

 gain individual advantages while ruining the 

 harbors. The Coast Survey is the bulwark 

 against these encroachments. This matter 

 should be in the hands of the General Gov- 

 ernment, and Congress should pass laws to 

 prevent these injuries. If the coast survey 

 were thorough, and maps were fully repre- 

 sentative of ascertained facts, a pilot would 

 scarcely be necessary, but yet never could 

 be entirely dispensed with, especially in bad 

 weather. The worst rocks have generally 

 been discovered by the misfortune of strik- 

 ing upon them. Under such circumstances 

 the pilot becomes a more accurate observer 

 than the plummets of the Coast Survey. 

 This n as curiously illustrated by instances 

 where pilots had taken out parties engaged 

 in coast survey, and asked to have a plum- 

 met dropped at a spot apparently out at sea 

 with nothing to guide it, and the surveying 

 parties have found this strange instinctive 

 knowledge of the pilot fixed the very spot 

 of a dangerous sunken rock which could 

 never have been found otherwise. The pi- 

 lots discovered that, by putting down every 

 rock that they knew of, they made maps 

 that frightened the captains of vessels into 

 employing them. Hence these practical 

 observers have added immensely to the 

 number of facts accumulated by the Coast 

 Survey. 



Prof. Peirce explained why he consid- 

 ered it unnecessary to carry out at present 

 so thorough a survey of the Pacific as has 

 been made of the Atlantic coast. The needs 

 of the commerce of the coast is the stand- 

 ard by which the work of the survey is de- 

 termined. He took occasion to mention 

 that the Hassler Expedition was at the ex- 



pense of private individuals, principally of 

 Boston, and was not at the expense of the 

 Government. Different States obtained the 

 benefit of the coast survey by the determi- 

 nation of fixed points for their own interior 

 topographical and geological surveys. A 

 general geodetic connection has been ef- 

 fected in these observations, so that the 

 whole United States will benefit by them ; 

 and the points will be taken so as eventu- 

 ally to procure a complete survey of the 

 whole continent, passing through each State 

 and the large cities. It is a work that may 

 take a century. It is the hope of Prof. 

 Peirce that this survey will not only be the 

 best in the world, but that its details will be 

 such that before long there will be no neces- 

 sity for railroad surveys the facts will be 

 spread everywhere. As to the higher oper- 

 ations of the Coast Survey, their ultimate 

 expression will be an accurate determination 

 of the figure of the earth. Its actual figure 

 as an ellipsoid of revolution is not yet actu- 

 ally known. It is one of an infinite number 

 of possible figures, each nearly an ellipsoid 

 of revolution. This question may ultimate- 

 ly be determined by observations on this 

 continent. Observations here are more suc- 

 cessful and free from local irregularities 

 than in Asia or Europe. Yet there are 

 some such local irregularities here notably 

 one near Boston, where there is some 

 strange deviation of density from the sur- 

 rounding country. 



TOE FEMALE THE BETTER HALF. 



If there were able debaters among the 

 members of the Association present, op- 

 portunity has certainly not been wanting in 

 which to develop their ability. Think, for 

 instance, of what a magnificent subject for 

 discussion was offered by Prof. Hartshorne, 

 of Pennsylvania, in a paper on the relation 

 between organic vigor and sex, in which he 

 espoused the theory that the births of fe- 

 males were an indication of excess of for- 

 mative force, and of males of a deficiency, 

 on the part of the parents ; and that female 

 offspring was an index of the highest vigor. 

 He began by alluding to certain papers 

 which Prof. Meehan, a botanist of celebrity, 

 had submitted to the Association, wherein 

 it was set forth that the highest types of 

 vegetation among the larch and coniferous 



