BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 169 



THE FIRST DECADE OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION: 

 ITS PLA1V OF WORK AND ACCOMPLISHED RESULTS, SCIENTIFIC 

 AND ECONOMICAL. 



By G. BROWN GOODE.* 



There are nine departments of the government devoted, in part or 

 wholly, to researches in pure and applied science — the Geological 

 Survey; the Coast and Geodetic Survey; the Naval Observatory; the 

 National Museum ; the Department of Agriculture; the Entomological 

 Commission; the Tenth Census, with its special agencies for the study 

 of the natural resources of the country; the Smithsonian Bureau of 

 Ethnology, and the Commission of Eish and Fisheries. The Smithso- 

 nian Institution, established upon an independent foundation, should 

 also be mentioned, as well as the Medical Museum of the Army, and the 

 various laboratories under the control of the Army and Navy Depart- 

 ments. 



The Geological Survey is not now carrying on any of the schemes of 

 zoological and botanical investigation engaged in by its predecessors. 



The work of the Entomological Commission and that of the census, 

 though of extreme importance, are limited in scope and duration, while 

 that of the Agricultural Department is necessarily, for the most part, 

 economical. 



The work of the National Museum is chiefly confined to the study of 

 collections made by government surveys or individual collectors and 

 sent in to be reported upon. 



The work of the Eish Commission, in one of its aspects, may perhaps 

 be regarded as the most prominent of the present efforts of the govern- 

 ment in aid of aggressive biological research. 



On the 9th of February, 1874, Congress passed a joint resolution which 

 authorized the appointment of a Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. 

 The duties of the Commissioner were thus defined: "To prosecute 

 investigations on the subject (of the diminution of valuable fishes) with 

 the view of ascertaining whether any and what diminution in the number 

 of the food-fishes of the coast and the lakes of the United States has 

 taken place; and, if so, to what causes the same is due; and also whether 

 any and what protective, prohibitory, or precautionary measures should 

 be adopted in the premises, and to report upon the same to Congress." 



The resolution establishing the office of Commissoner of Fisheries 

 required that the person to be appointed should be a civil officer of the 

 government, of proved scientific and practical acquaintance with the 

 fishes of the coast, to serve without additional salary. The choice was 

 thus practically limited to a single man, for whom, in fact, the office had 



*Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Boston, 

 August 28, 1880. 



