n6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sary to use pumps. For this purpose plaus are being made for the 

 development of water power and the use of this in pumping by electric 

 transmission. It is believed that in this way considerable areas of 

 desert land can be reclaimed which are now out of reach of water 

 obtained by the usual methods. Scientific investigation is being pushed 

 along these lines, and also in many other directions, and of the employ- 

 ment of cement and concrete in construction. In short, the scientific 

 work, while subordinated to the so-called practical side, is receiving 

 constant attention from the various experts. 



Assistance is being given to the reclamation service by the operations 

 of the other divisions of the hydro-graphic branch. These are three in 

 number: first, the division of hydrography, which has to do with the 

 scientific measurements of the flow of the streams; second, the hydro- 

 logic division, which is studying the hydro-geology, or the bringing 

 together all the facts bearing upon the occurrence of water in its geologic 

 relations, and third, the hydro-economic division, which has to do with 

 the quality of water and the relation which the changing qualities have 

 to the industrial uses. In particular the quantity of saline matter 

 carried in solution is of prime importance to the question of irriga- 

 tion, and next to this the character and amount of material carried in 

 suspension. 



The operations of the Hydrographie Branch, including the Eec- 

 lamation Service, illustrate the evolution which may take place under 

 suitable auspices from the small beginning of a scientific investigation, 

 leading up step by step to the practicable operations of applied science 

 in building great works to endure for centuries. It is significant of 

 modern times to find the engineers and scientific men taking a larger 

 and larger part in the executive business of the world, and bringing to 

 it the training of the technical school and laboratory, as distinguished 

 from that of the counting-house or lawyer's office. 



