basic research in the social sciences (only 

 $27,000 supported wori< in the life sciences and 

 $1,000 in the physical sciences). -^4 In 1977 the esti- 

 mated budget is much lower — the total being only 

 $619,000. Basic research obligations in the life sci- 

 ences are estimated at $451,0(X); the environmental 

 sciences (not listed as such before) account for 

 $49,000; and the budget for social sciences is down 

 to $119,000. The work is split between intramural 

 performers ($227, OCX)) and extramural performers, 

 primarily universities ($392, 000). ^^5 



Summary 



From its inception, the Department of the Inte- 

 rior "became a repository of responsibilities which 

 seemed to fit nowhere else. . . ."-36 its research 

 program is a reflection of the individual goals and 

 histories of its component parts. Although the 

 Department contains an Office of Research and 

 Development, that office's responsibilities are to 

 coordinate only energy and mineral research and 

 development. -37 The Geological Survey and 

 OWRT are almost purely research agencies, and 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service is heavily commit- 

 ted to research. All three of these agencies in- 

 clude a solid component of appropriate basic re- 

 search in their research programs. On the other 

 hand, it appears that the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

 has never done any research, and the Bureau of 

 Mines and the National Park Service currently do 

 relatively little basic research. 



Department of Health, Education and 

 Welfare 



The Department of Health, Education and Wel- 

 fare (HEW) has the largest basic research pro- 

 gram of any Government agency. By far the larg- 

 est portion of this research is done by the Public 

 Health Service (PHS). 



PHS— Origins 



The Public Health Service (PHS) now includes 

 the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health; 

 the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Ad- 

 ministration (ADAMHA); the Center for Disease 

 Control in Atlanta, Ga.; the Food and Drug Ad- 

 ministration (FDA); the Health Resources Admin- 

 istration; and the National Institutes of Health 



(NIH). The Assistant Secretary for Health is ex 

 officio the Surgeon General of the United States. 

 The PHS is the Federal agency charged by law to 

 promote and insure the highest level of health at- 

 tainable for every individual and family in this 

 country, but it originated at a time when the Feder- 

 al Government did not assume any responsibility 

 for public health or health care. 



In 1798, in answer to complaints from port cit- 

 ies, a law was passed to tax merchant seamen's 

 salaries to pay for their hospitalization. Hospitals 

 were built and were administered by the Treas- 

 ury Department. These hospitals were in no way 

 research institutions, but eventually they became 

 the instruments of the PHS. In 1870, these hospi- 

 tals were in such bad condition that Army assist- 

 ance was requested; Surgeon John Shaw Billings, 

 who had created the Surgeon General's Library, 

 the Index Medicus, and the Index Catalogue, as- 

 sisted Dr. W. D. Stewart, Inspector of Marine 

 Hospitals, in planning reform. Following their rec- 

 ommendations. Congress created the post of Su- 

 pervising Surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service. 

 Dr. John Woodworth, who was appointed to this 

 position, recruited a commissioned corps of pro- 

 fessionally qualified medical doctors which re- 

 ceived specific legal recognition in 1889. -^s 



On March 3, 1879. Congress voted to create a 

 National Board of Health. In the confusion of 

 rushing the bill through, provisions for a national 

 public health organization were omitted. The 

 Board sponsored research on a wide variety of 

 subjects, including organic matter in the air, disin- 

 fectants, sewers, soils, diseases of food animals, 

 adulteration of food and drugs, and sanitation. 

 This work was done under grants to individual 

 investigators, usually at universities. However, 

 the Board soon collapsed because it was required 

 to enforce a yellow fever quarantine, which it 

 opposed. Although a quarantine had been de- 

 manded politically, once imposed it was equally 

 unpopular politically, and the Board did not have 

 strong allies to protect it. The quarantine became 

 the responsibility of the Marine Hospital Service, 

 and all medical research reverted to the Army. -39 



The Marine Hospital Service began its own re- 

 search about 1887 when Dr. J. J. Kinyoun set up 

 a bacteriological laboratory at the Marine Hospital 

 on Staten Island. In 1888 the Service was threat- 

 ened with tra.isfer to Interior. The Service suc- 

 cessfully defended itself by quoting Kinyoun's 



-^"Federal Funds. \foi. XIII, NSF6.'i-l3, pp. 146. 150. 

 -^^Federal Funds. Vol. XXVI. NSF 77-317, Tables CM) and 

 C-.34. 



'^*' America 200. op. cit.. p. 46. 



-^T United States Government Manual 1976/77. op. cit., p. 298. 



-"*Dupree. Chapter XIII; Schmeckebier, 1.. F.. The Public 

 Health Service: Its History. Activities, and Organization. .Scrv- 

 ice Monograph No 10 (Institule for Government Research: 

 Baltimore. 1923). pp 2-10. Hereinafter referred to as Schmeck- 

 ebier. 



^"^Dupree, pp. 259-262. 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 349 



