135 



pqst It. hos olvjp-YB shown itself reo.r\j to coop.?r-te v/ith otver -uren- 

 cies in investigations of t^- e coc?t"Jise wnters of tl^o United Str.tes, 

 so f^r as fi^is >rs n ot interfe:-'ed wit h its routine duties." T:^e 

 ^With tio "Bureau "on^ishsrioF, for ex-'cn^lo, th- f'useum of Comp.-rr,- 



tive Zoology, and t'^e Scripn s Institu tion for OcGanogr- phy. 



Survev woul'd undoubtedly he glad to extend its studies of currents 

 "'Oil out into W-e T^aclfic -^nd Atlantic, if funds were available, 

 appreclrtlhe: th - 1 the drifts of the w-ters closor in to t^-^e coast 

 -r.'^ hut a p-rt of t>ie general circulatory scheme of thv oceans, 

 hence to he understood must he studied as a part of thb latter. 

 And there appears to he nothing in ti-^e Act of T^ehru-r^^ 10, 1807 

 (of which the Survey is an outgrowth) to restrict its activities 

 to territorial waters. The vessels of the Survey have done much 

 wire sounding in deep water m the pa at. And a number of thorn are 

 now^eouipnGd~^'"ith Sonic soundin.f^ apparatus, enabling t^em to carry 

 out Topographic surveys of the bottom at great depths economically 

 and in great det-il. "They have recently taken a largo number of 

 serial observations of temperature in salinity down to considerable 

 depths and have gathered man^ samples of the sea bottom. T>^e Sur- 

 vey also devotes much attention to the study of Isostasy and may be 

 expected to lend assistance in this field to any well considered 

 program at sea, both by the use of its vessels, when these can be 

 spared from other duties, and b-- suonlying trained personnel. "'ith 

 regard to the latter, i.e. personnel, it should be nointed ont th-t 

 in the stud^r of ocean currents by direct meti-ods of observata. on, 

 especially by current met:irs, the personnel of f-e Coast and Geo- 

 detic Surve-^ is notably efficient, as it is in all its scientiPic 

 operations. It maintains excellent sea-going ships and the offic- 

 ers and crews ar • thoroughly trained m surveying procedure. 



In short, t-o Co-rt and Geodetic Survey ma-^ always be expected 

 to cooperate eordially in any studies of tidal -m^ other currents 

 in the territorial waters around the United States and in study 

 of the topograph-^- of the sea-bottom, b"^^ assisting with the prepar- 

 ation of apparatus, and b-^^ carrving out such obser^-ations as vnll 

 not interfere too seriousl-r with its regular routine d.utiea. Fed- 

 erate contributions- of m.oney from outside sources would not of 

 themselves enable it to undertake any considerable oceanograiV-ic 

 progr-m. other than th- 1 just outlined, even within territorial 

 waters, because its sh ' ps :-'re fully emploved in their reguJ-r dut- 

 ies, tT-e demands on t^-em constantly being greater than can he met. 

 However, the Survey is one of the bureaux t^-at has shown ver^- rapid 

 P-rowth in the past. It is now making rapid progress in the chart- 

 ing of the pacific co-at of the United Statea and will wit^^m a 

 few years complete the first survey of the Hawaiian and Philippine 

 Archipelaeoes, when a vessel might be spared from the charting work. 

 In that case, according to its acting Director, no obiection need 

 be anticipated to her omplo^^rment in Oceanography if the necessarv 

 appropriation could be obtained for h --r oparating expenses. 



4, United States Lighthouse Service. 



The regi^Tlar duties of the Lighthouse Service do not include 

 work of direct oceanogranhic importance. Nevertheless, t>^is S' r- 

 vice is in a better position to make certain sorts of oceanic ob- 

 servations than is any other agencv in the country, go^rernraental 

 or private. IVe refer here to such observations as can be taken from 



