CHAPTER IV 



THE ACADEMY AS THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISER OF 

 THE GOVERNMENT 



THE Academy started out in the stormy days of the Civil 

 War with the idea and the intention of helping the 

 Government. It has helped the Government. Its re- 

 ports have been accepted, its recommendations have been 

 adopted, and the Government has shaped its course in several 

 matters of importance in the light of the counsel which it 

 received from the Academy. If it has not sought that counsel as 

 frequently and as eagerly as the founders hoped and expected, 

 the defection has been due rather to the changes which time has 

 wrought in the public service, than to any lack of confidence in 

 the counsellors. 



In an earlier chapter we have shown that the idea of helping 

 the Government was prominent in the minds of some of the 

 founders of the Academy, that it was incorporated in the charter 

 and constitution, and that Professor Bache and others thought 

 that in this direction lay a very important — if not the most im- 

 portant, function of the Academy. It remains now to consider 

 more in detail to what extent and on what subjects the advice of 

 the Academy has been sought by the Government, how far its 

 recommendations have been adopted, and what results have 

 followed. It will be readily understood that with the increase 

 of large scientific organizations in the country, the growth of 

 public opinion relative to scientific matters of more or less 

 practical importance, and the development of the scientific 

 bureaus of the Government, it has happened less frequently that 

 the Academy has stood alone in its recommendations. Even at 

 the outset some of the committees appointed to consider questions 

 of public policy were joint committees of the Academy and of 

 other kindred organizations, or had among their members 



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