21 6 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



goes far to convince us of the truth of Admiral Davis' assertion 

 that the practical plan for the organization of an Academy was 

 suggested by the Commission of the Navy Department. There 

 appear to have been several such commissions and the one under 

 consideration performed other duties besides the particular one 

 for which it was established. It met in New York on March 

 19, 1863, to act, by request of the Secretary of the Navy, " as a 

 scientific committee to superintend the placing of the standard 

 compass on board the United States steamer Circassian, and to 

 examine the correction and register of its deviations." Its 

 second meeting while acting in this capacity was held in New 

 York, April 21, 1863, the day before that on which the Academy 

 met for organization, and on which a committee drafted the 

 constitution. Not only so, but the committee met in the same 

 place as the Naval Commission the Brevoort House and 

 three of the members of the committee were also members of 

 the Commission. These coincidences and relationships reveal 

 to us how close was the interaction between the Naval Commis- 

 sion and the leading spirits in the founding of the Academy. 



This committee performed an extraordinary amount of work 

 and prepared a detailed report which covers 73 printed pages. 

 It is difficult to understand how men charged with many onerous 

 duties could devote so much energy to a special investigation, 

 until one considers the condition of the times. Not only were 

 many of the ordinary activities of life suspended or retarded by 

 war, but every loyal citizen, and especially every officer of the 

 Government, felt that he had a patriotic duty to perform in aid- 

 ing, as far as in him lay, to sustain the cause of the Union. 



The Civil War happened at a time when iron ships were fast 

 superseding wooden ones. The Navy had in commission or 

 under construction in May, 1863, some 88 vessels, the majority 

 of which had wooden hulls protected above the water-line by 

 plates of iron. These were known as iron-clads. The vessels 

 with iron hulls were mainly prizes. They were built in England 

 and employed as blockade-runners. The rigging of some vessels 



