140 APPENDIX TO THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



THE FIRST DECADE OF THE UIS'ITED STATES FISH COM- 

 MISSION : ITS PLAif OF WORK Al^TD ACCOMPLISHED RE- 

 SULTS, SCIENTIFIC AND ECONOMICAL. 



By G. Brown Goode.* 



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

 wholly , to researches in pure and appUed science — the Geological Sur- 

 vey; 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 Eth- 

 nology, and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The Smithsonian 

 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 Departments. 



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 dui'ation, 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 Fish Commission, in one of its aspects, may perhaps 

 be regarded as the most prominent of the present eflbrts of th.e govern- 

 ment in aid of aggressive biological research. 



On the 9th of February, 1871, 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 investi- 

 gations 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 oflice of Commissioner 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 



■* [From the Peoceedengs of the Amekican Association fob the Advancement of ScIE^•cE, YoL 

 xxix, Boston Meeting, Angust, 1880.] 



