JULIUS ERASMUS HILGARD. 371 



ability as a field officer in astronomical work and triangulation at 

 once secured liim the commendation of his immediate superiors 

 and of the Superintendent. In 1851, 1852, and 1853 he was in 

 charge of the computing division, and there again his ability was 

 made manifest, as is shown by the report of Captain Benham, 

 U. S. Eng., who, on assuming charge of the Coast Survey Office 

 in 1853, reported to the Superintendent that he found the com- 

 puting division the best organized division in the office. 



The annual reports of the Survey contain the evidence of Hil- 

 gard's scientific activity up to 18G1, when for a brief period he 

 severed his direct connection with the Survey to embark in private 

 enterprise. But at the outbreak of the War, when the very exist- 

 ence of the Survey was endangered by threatened legislation, Bache 

 appealed to him to return to Washington and help save the Survey, 

 Responding at once, Hilgard called upon Schuyler Colfax and 

 Roscoe Conkling, eminent as leaders in the dominant party, and 

 made a strong argument showing how necessary such an organiza- 

 tion as the Coast Survey must be to the country in time of war. 

 So searching was Roscoe Conkling's examination of Hilgard's 

 argument that the latter mistook his earnestness for an evidence 

 of a spirit hostile to the Survey; but to his relief and satisfaction 

 it was soon shown that he had found a most earnest supporter in 

 Conkling no less than in Colfax. This incident is here recorded 

 in order to recall to the mind that, in summing up the labors of 

 Hilgard in the cause of science, it should be remembered that it is 

 a sufficient outcome of a life to have borne a large part in main- 

 taining the efficiency of so great and useful an institution as the 

 Coast Survey. In 1862, Hilgard assumed charge of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey Office, and this during the war involved heavy 

 responsibilities. 



Professor Bache having become incapacitated through mental 

 disease, the duty of directing the Survey in all its branches de- 

 volved upon Hilgard in the autumn of 1864, in addition to his 

 labors as assistant in charge of the office. Thus he was virtually 

 Superintendent until the appointment of a successor to Bache, in 

 February, 1867, without reaping the reward of a formal appoint- 

 ment, which he richly deserved. As an estimate of his services by a 

 critic by no means partial, and yet competent, the opinion of Bache's 

 successor, Benjamin Peirce, is cited here: "During the illness 

 of my lamented predecessor, the administration of the Survey fell 

 upon the shoulders of the assistant in charge, J. E. Hilgard. The 



