276 



NATURE 



[May 31, 1917 



The Bureau of Mines. 



The Bureau of Mines was established as a separate 

 /branch of the Department of the Interior in 1910. 

 Its aims are : (a) to bring about greater efficiency 

 and the prevention of waste in the extraction, prepara- 

 tion, and utilisation of mineral products, and (6) to 

 secure the safety and health of workers in the mining 

 industries. 



In its work the bureau seeks the oo-oi>eration of all 

 interested persons, and welcomes the assistance and 

 advice of workmen's organisations, of technical 

 societies, and of State officials and State Giovernments. 

 It maintains an experiment station and mine at Pitts- 

 burgh, where research work is carried on, and where 

 investigations are made as to mining explosions, 

 miners' lamps, and mining equipment, and the effici- 

 ency of mine rescue apparatus. 



The bureau has given special attention to investi- 

 gating the causes and methods of prevention of coal- 

 mine explosions, and to safeguarding the lives of coal 

 miners. In addition, coal and other mineral fuels 

 belonging to or for the use of the Government of 

 the United States have been analysed and tested \yith 

 the view of increasing efificiency in their utilisation. 

 Investigations have been undertaken with the view of 

 increasing the efficiency and preventing waste in the 

 metal-mining and miscellaneous mineral industries, 

 and a considerable amount of research and experi- 

 mental work in regard to metallurgical problems has 

 tteen carried out. The expenditure of the bureau is 

 about i2o,oooZ. per annum. 



The Public Health Service. 



The Public Health Service now consists of 450 

 medical officers and fifty pharmacists, in addition to 

 professors, technical assistants, and other officers. The 

 total staff numbers about 2000, while the annual ex- 

 penditure is now about 6oo,oooZ. In the United States 

 public health matters within the limits of any one 

 State are reserved to the States themselves, but the 

 Federal Public Health Service has a broad field of 

 activities, inasmuch as it is responsible for preventing 

 the importation of disease and the spread of disease 

 from State to State, and for assisting the States in 

 the solution of various public health problems. 



Through the Public Health Service, the Federal 

 •Government co-operates with the health authorities 

 of the States individually and collectively; collects 

 current information of the prevalence and geographic 

 ■distribution of disease; is responsible for the adminis- 

 tration of the inter-State quarantine laws and regula- 

 tions for the prevention of the spread of disease from 

 State to State; suppresses epidemics; carries on re- 

 search work in matters pertaining to the public 

 health ; maintains the national quarantine for the pre- 

 vention of the importation of disease from abroad; 

 performs the medical examination of emigrants; 

 regulates the manufacture and sale of vaccines, 

 serums, anti-toxins, and analogous products in inter- 

 State traffic ; and furnishes medical care and treatment 

 to various branches of the Government service and to 

 the seamen, of the merchant marine. 



The Division of Scientific Research controls all 

 matters relating to investigations of contagious and 

 infectious diseases, and matters pertaining to the 

 public health wherever made. In the field it is repre- 

 sented by the Hygienic Laboratory, with its four 

 •branches— (a) the Plague Laboratory in San tran- 

 cisco, (b) the Leprosy Investigation Station in Hawaii, 

 (c) the Pellagra Investigation Station at Savannah, 

 and (d) the Station at Wilmington foe the investiga- 

 tion of the parasites of man— and by officers engaged 

 In investigations of typhoid fever. Rocky Mountain 

 spotted fever, and other diseases. 

 NO. 2483, VOL. 99] 



The Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 



This institution was founded in 1846 under the 

 terms of a private bequest, by which a sum of approxi- 

 mately 100,000/. was donated to found "an establish- 

 lishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 

 among men." 



With a view to the increase of knowledge, the 

 institute aids investigators by making grants for 

 research and exploration, supplying books, apparatus, 

 laboratory accommodation, etc. It occasionally pro- 

 vides for lectures, wh-ch are published. It has initiated 

 numerous scientific projects, some of which have been 

 turned over to the Government, and resulted in the 

 creation of independent Government bureaux. It 

 advises the Government in many matters of scientific 

 importance, especially in those that have an inter- 

 national aspect. It co-operates with national scientific 

 bodies, such as the National Academy of Sciences, 

 the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, the American Historical Association, etc. 



The parent institute has the administrative charge 

 of several branches which grew out of its early activi- 

 ties, and are supported by Congressional appro- 

 priations. These are .the National Museum, including 

 the National Gallery of Art, the International Ex- 

 change Service, the Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 the National Zoological Park, the Astrophysical 

 Observatory, the Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory, 

 and the United States Regional Bureau for the Inter- 

 national Catalogue of Scientific Literature. 



State Institutions. 

 Universities. 

 A large amount of research work is carried on in 

 the universities and other higher educational institu- 

 tions in the United States in respect both to pure 

 science and to industrial problems. A great part of 

 the research work conducted in these institutions is 

 of a purely scientific nature, and is on the same 

 general lines as that carried out in English and 

 Australian universities. In the "State" universities 

 in America there is, however, a greater tendency for 

 the research work to be more directly associated with 

 the industrial needs and progress of the community. 

 These State universities were established from the 

 revenue derived from land grants, and are maintained 

 partly by means of these grants and partly by means 

 of special taxes on rateable property. In so far as 

 the agricultural and engineering experiment stations 

 are concerned, research work has already been linked 

 up with industry, and proposals have recently been 

 made for the establishment of a National University 

 at Washington, which would serve to organise the 

 work of existing universities on lines more closely 

 related to industrial interests. 



Experiinent Stations. 



Agricultural Experiment Stations. — Reference has 

 already been made to the agricultural experiment 

 stations established under the Hatch and Adams Acts, 

 and to the relations between the Federal and State 

 authorities with respect to these stations. The re- 

 search work of the stations covers the whole field of 

 scientific agriculture. 



Engineering Experiment Stations. — Experiment 

 stations have been established at several of the uni- 

 versities in the United States. These stations have 

 special staffs of officers who are free from ordinary 

 instructional work. Their most important activities 

 are generally in relation to engineering problems, but 

 several of them are also engaged partly in investiga- 

 tional work connected with mining and other special 

 industries. The engineering experiment station at 

 the University of Illinois may be taken as typical of 



