694 



NATURE 



{Oct. 31, 1878 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or 

 to correspond with the -writers of, rejected manuscripts. No 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[ The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com- 

 munications containing interesting and novel facts ^ 



American Exploration 



North-westa'n Wyoming and Yellowstone Park 



The letter from Capt. W. A. Jones in Nature, vol. xviii. 

 p, 667, seems to show a feeling of irritation on his part at the 

 notice of his Report upon a reconnaissance in North-western 

 Wyoming, which appeared in your columns some months ago. 

 There was not in that notice any expression which could be 

 interpreted into a want of recognition of the ability with which 

 he had conducted the operations committed to his charge. Of 

 course the desirability of these operations, and whether they 

 were important enough to justify the expedition, are matters of 

 opinion regarding which we may differ from Capt. Jones, without 

 for a moment casting any reflection upon him. One object of 

 the remarks which have displeased him was to point out the need 

 of some central authority to control the various exploratory 

 surveys in the United States, and prevent a needless expenditure 

 of labour and money in the reduplication of work by parties 

 operating without any concert with each other. This subject 

 was brought before the notice of Congress, and a special com- 

 mittee was appointed to consider it and take evidence. The 

 report of the sittings of this committee shows a most laudable 

 desire of patiently getting at the truth. It recommends that the 

 Engineer Department should not be authorised to undertake any 

 surveys except such as might be required for purely military 

 purposes. Of course, Capt. Jones, as an officer of engineers, 

 thinks this a very "one-sided report." But the decision of the 

 committee met with the approval of the great body of scien- 

 tific men in America, whose only desire could be the best means 

 of facilitating the thorough exploration of their great country. 

 And the decision was equally welcomed on this side of the 

 Atlantic by men who knew nothing and cared less for the per- 

 sonal bickerings of the different Government departments and 

 surveyors in the United States. Capt. Jones speaks of a quota- 

 tion made from the committee's report as being "out of the 

 pale of decent characterisation." It was nevertheless the de- 

 liberate statement of men who gave their testimony upon oath. 

 Strong expressions of this kind are apt to raise more than a 

 doubt as to the strength of the cause in support of which they 

 are adduced. 



With every wish to do full justice to Capt. Jones and his 

 associates, I feel that there is a far larger question behind his 

 complaint than the mere recognition of their contributions to 

 our knowledge of the North American Continent. To students 

 of science in Europe it is a matter of small moment under what 

 Government department or by what organisation of surveying 

 parties the work of exploration is carried on. Most cheerfully 

 do we recognise the labour, the patience, the courage, the physi- 

 cal endurance, the sagacity of observation, and the admirable 

 powers of generalisation which during the last fifteen or twenty 

 years have been bestowed by the various departments upon the 

 task of unravelling the geography and the geological histoiy of 

 vast tracts of the United States. Thus the Department of 

 Engineers has earned our lasting gratitude for the thoroughness 

 and accuracy of its contributions ; and had it no other record 

 of its work than the magnificent series of quartos relative to the 

 survey of the 40th parallel, that department would have 

 raised an enduring monument of its scientific prowess. But 

 besides the exhaustive reports of Clarence King and his 

 associates, the Bureau of Engineers has issued many other 

 most admirable volumes, not least among which is that of 

 Capt. Jones himself. Then the Department of the Inte- 

 rior has for a number of years enjoyed the lustre shed upon 

 it by the researches conducted by Dr. F. V. Hayden. Capt. 

 Jones speaks of this distinguished explorer in the generous 

 spirit of a true lover of science. To have succeeded as Dr. 

 Hayden has done means not merely that he has conquered the 

 physical difficulties of unexplored regions, that he has possessed 

 mental powers capable of grappling with the many difficult pro- 

 blems presented by these western territories, that he has that 



judgment and bonhomie which have enabled him to select and 

 keep round him year after year such a Band of skilled observers 

 as has included the names of Marvine, Peale, Endlich, and 

 Gardner ; but — what, perhaps, demands greater skill and 

 patience than all the rest — that he has had the self-denial and 

 courage to canvass the Congress, and literally persuade or coax 

 its members into granting the necessary appropriations. It is 

 all very well to talk of the dignity of science ; but science cannot 

 get on without money ; and to get money she must, in America 

 at least, " hiding her dignity in her necessity, be fain to shuffle, 

 to hedge and to lurch." That a man of Dr. Hayden's powers 

 should require to go through this annual penance is sad to think, 

 but, as matters stand, he must either go through it or give up 

 his explorations. He has chosen the former alternative. That 

 in so doing be has done wisely must be granted not only as 

 regards the prosecution of his own operations, but indirectly in 

 reference to the other explorations sanctioned and paid for by 

 Congress. The altogether admirable surveys conducted by 

 Major Powell, for example, also under the Department of the 

 Interior, have a powerful backing in the prestige of Dr. Hayden's 

 work. The Coast Survey has long been a model of accurate 

 and exhaustive methods of research. 



Capt. Jones remarks that "in the cause of science a little 

 duplication and reduplication are things not to be sneered at." 

 A few lines further on he says that " exploring is but imperfect 

 work, so far as the survey, which is its foundation feature, is 

 concerned;" and that "observations for longitude with any 

 known portable instruments are painfully erratic, unless there be 

 abundant time." No one ever "sneered at" the repetition of 

 surveys by different exploring parties ; but every one, unless per- 

 haps a candidate for future employment in tliese expeditions, 

 must admit that it is a pity to reduplicate work which is so 

 confessedly "imperfect" and "painfully erratic." Let the 

 first preliminary surveys be made, but let them be done systema- 

 tically, so that different surveying parties shall work in concert, 

 and not blindly re-survey each other's ground. If any subsequent 

 redupUcation can be undertaken let it be again done methodically, 

 with the view of correcting and filling up the first rough out- 

 lines. This requires some central controlling authority, and it 

 is the absence of this authority which has led to the misunder- 

 standings and dispeace. At present any man who can gain the 

 ear of Congress, and get an appropriation of so many thousand 

 dollars may go and explore as he pleases, and very much where 

 he pleases, provided only he renders account to the Department 

 of the Interior for the disbursement of the money. Of course 

 this want of supervision leaves the explorer untrammelled 

 by the official bonds which would hamper him if he were 

 surveying in a longer-settled country. He is entirely his own 

 master, can airange his work and dispose his staff precisely 

 as he judges best for the sake of progress and efficiency. No 

 doubt these are enormous advantages. But then, on the other 

 hand, he must stoop to button-hole the Congi-ess-men, and 

 spend many valuable weeks in getting them to see that they 

 ought to continue, or even to increase their grants to him. He 

 has no departmental organisation behind him on whose support 

 he can rely, and the mere passive existence of which would often 

 of itself be enough for his purpose. He must every year fight 

 his own battle over again against competing organisations, rival 

 explorers, and utterly indifferent members of Congress, It was 

 in this respect that the Department of Engineers proved so 

 formidable an antagonist in the conflict which led to the appoint- 

 ment of the Congressional Committee referred to by Capt. Jones. 

 It is an organised department of long standing with traditions 

 and military esprit de corps. The several explorers under its 

 wing had not to stand each with his back to the wall fighting for 

 his own. Their cause was taken up as a general one by the 

 engineers and the army, and it was only after much evidence 

 had been led that the Committee agreed upon that "one-sided" 

 Report which the engineers naturally resent. 



If all the surveying work undertaken, or at least paid for, by 

 Congress, were placed under some central control, enough would 

 probably be done were precautions taken to secure that the 

 various operations were carried on in concert and not in utter 

 ignorance of each other, and that the maps and memoirs were 

 issued in some one general form which would facilitate reference. 

 The various explorers need not lose their practical independence. 

 They might remain as unhampered as ever, and be left free to 

 make their own dispositions within certain general limits. Such 

 a central board ought to charge itself with securing the neces- 

 sary money grants from Congress, and thus save its scientific 

 men from the degradation and loss of valuable time in per- 



