COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 225 



from merchant vessels for a new edition. In 1884 the hydrog- 

 rapher reported that sufficient data from this source and from the 

 naval vessels had been collected to form the basis of a new set of 

 charts for the North Pacific. 24 



Commander J. R. Bartlett, the head of the Hydrographic 

 Office remarked: 



" The province of the meteorological division is to furnish blank meteorological 

 journals to the masters of merchant vessels who are willing to post them, the 

 masters receiving in return a set of charts covering the route to be traversed. The 

 data obtained from these journals and from the log-books of ships of war are con- 

 densed for use in the construction of new editions of Maury's Wind and Current 

 Charts." 25 



COMMITTEE ON THE QUESTION OF TESTS FOR THE 

 PURITY OF WHISKEY. 1864 



This committee, appointed to consider a subject which within 

 the last few years has been repeatedly forced on the attention 

 of the Government, was appointed on January 14, 1864, at the 

 request of the Acting Surgeon General of the Army received on 

 the fifth of that month, and consisted of Benjamin Silliman, Jr. 

 (chairman) , John Torrey, R. E. Rogers, J. L. LeConte and J. H. 

 Alexander. On March 17, the committee asked for and obtained 

 the use of the sum of $3,500 to be used in experimentation, but 

 later decided that no expenditure of money was necessary. 



A brief report was presented on January 6, 1865, as follows: 



" In the absence of the chairman of the committee on the question of tests for 

 the purity of whiskey, the members who are present beg leave to report, that after 

 giving the subject their earnest consideration, they have come to the conclusion that 

 in the present condition of chemical science no tests can be employed for deter- 

 mining the age of whiskey and other spirituous liquors. The common adulter- 

 ations are readily detected. It is not difficult, however, to obtain alcohol that is 

 free from all deleterious admixture. They therefore recommend, for use in the 

 military hospitals in the United States, pure alcohol, medicated with such additions 

 as will qualify it for the particular object for which it is prescribed. 



24 Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1884, p. 59. 

 * Loc. cit., p. 61. 



