THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



missioner of Education, and Prof. R. S. 

 Woodward, president-elect of the Amer- 

 ican Association, as vice-presidents. M. 

 Bourgeois, late French Minister of Edu- 

 cation, is the general president, and M. 

 Greard, rector of the University of 

 Paris, is president of the French Group. 

 The plans for the Assembly this sum- 

 mer are based directly on the Paris Ex- 

 position. It is proposed to establish 

 headquarters on the grounds of the Ex- 

 position, in the buildings of the Univer- 

 sity of Paris and at other places, where 

 those interested in the scientific aspects 

 of the Exposition and in the scientific 

 and educational congresses may meet 

 and receive information and guidance. 

 Special visits to the Exposition and 

 other excursions, special lectures and 

 entertainments, special summaries of the 

 work of the congresses, etc., are prom- 

 ised. The Association is not, however, 

 limited to the Paris Exposition, but pro- 

 poses a permanent organization for the 

 holding of assemblies and the organiza- 

 tion of relations between men of science 

 of different nations. Those interested in 

 the Paris Assembly may secure further 

 information from Mr. Ely, secretary of 

 the American Group, 23 East Forty- 

 fourth street, New York City. 



The Government of the United States 

 does more to develop the resources of 

 the country and advance science than 

 any other nation. On these objects the 

 sum of over $8,000,000 is spent annually 

 and over 5,000 officers are employed. 

 Yet in one direction it has fallen far be- 

 hind the great European nations. Our 

 Department of Agriculture, our Geo- 

 logical Survey and many other agencies 

 surpass in range and efficiency the simi- 

 lar institutions eleswhere, but the ap- 

 plications of physics and chemistry to 

 the arts have not enjoyed equal advan- 

 tages. The Physikalische - Technische 

 Reichsanstalt, the national physical 

 laboratory of the German Empire, es- 

 tablished under the direction of von 

 Helmholtz, is conducted at an annual 

 cost of $80,000, and there is in addition 

 a German bureau of weights and meas- 



ures on which the sum of $36,000 is an- 

 nually expended. For similar purposes 

 Great Britain spends annually $62,000, 

 Austria, $46,000, and Russia, $17,500, 

 whereas, our office of Standard Weights 

 and Measures receives the meager appro- 

 priation of $10,400. We are very glad 

 to learn that the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury has submitted an amendment to the 

 pending sundry civil bill, creating in 

 place of the present office a National 

 Standardizing Bureau. According to the 

 amendment the functions of the bureau 

 shall consist in the custody of the stand- 

 ards; the comparison of the standards 

 used in scientific investigations, engi- 

 neering, manufacturing, commerce and 

 educational institutions with the stand- 

 ards adopted or recognized by the Gov- 

 ernment; the construction when neces- 

 sary of standards, their multiples and 

 subdivisions; the testing and calibration 

 of standard measuring apparatus; the 

 solution of problems which arise in con- 

 nection with standards; the determina- 

 tion of physical constants and the prop- 

 erties of materials when such data are 

 of great importance to scientific or man- 

 ufacturing interests and are not to be 

 obtained of sufficient accuracy else- 

 where. Provision is also made for the 

 erection of a laboratory and its equip- 

 ment, and for the employment of an 

 adequate staff, with a director, whose 

 salary shall be $6,000 per annum. 



It is satisfactory that the Secretary 

 of the Treasury should recommend a 

 reasonable salary for the director of the 

 proposed bureau. Men of science are, as 

 a rule, but poorly paid, and the officers 

 in the scientific departments of the Gov- 

 ernment receive in many cases salaries 

 that are a small part of what they could 

 earn as physicians or lawyers. There is, 

 of course, danger that if salaries are 

 large, the offices will be sought by 'prac- 

 tical* politicians, and it is probably the 

 part of wisdom to offer the best facili- 

 ties for research rather than large sal- 

 aries. Still, if the scientific man has 

 the salary of a clerk, he will be ranked 

 in the same class by legislators and ex- 



