WORK ON THE COAST SURVEY 249 



adult state. I need not say that it will be impossible to do a great deal with 

 this subject in the present state of our science ; but I hope to learn myself 

 and teach my hearers that questions admitting of no great amount of accu- 

 rate determination may still be studied with profit. In the same way I hope 

 to make the course on paleontology serve to impress upon the student the 

 feeling which I have acquired from your teachings and which I value above 

 any other intellectual result : that there is an intelligence guiding the changes 

 of nature and that the surest way to assimilate ourselves to this great guide 

 is by patiently seeking to comprehend the things about us. With this view 

 the leading thought of the lectures on paleontology will be the evidences of 

 an intellectual plan in the history of the animal kingdom. . . . 



During 1870 Mr. Shaler worked on the Quincy and Nahant 

 sheet for the United States Coast Survey, and from this time 

 on, covering a period of many years, he was continuously em- 

 ployed in its service ; his connection with it was very close and 

 twice he was offered the directorship, which he declined. Mr. 

 Cleveland was almost indignant with him for refusing the 

 office. Mr. Shaler, however, had an intense dislike to the politi- 

 cal side of government employment. The diplomacy, verging 

 toward intrigue, which often seemed necessary to secure appro- 

 priations as well as to maintain oneself against rival claimants 

 was repugnant to his temper of mind. He preferred the stability 

 of tenure at Harvard and the non-interference which character- 

 izes the administration of that university. And yet, notwith- 

 standing his unwillingness to become the director of a National 

 Survey, he took an active part in furthering the organization 

 of Government Surveys, as is shown in the following letter. 



May 20th, 1870. 



THE HON. SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, BART., 



President of the Royal Geological Society, etc., etc. 

 Sir: The American Social Science Associations are endeavoring to urge 

 upon the people of the United States the importance of a National Survey 

 with the hope of securing from the Federal Congress the necessary legisla- 

 tion for the organization of a thorough Geodetic and Geological Survey 

 together with a careful study of the ethnology and natural history of the 

 region traversed. The society proposes to have a paper on the value of 

 such surveys printed and widely distributed among our people. Knowing 



