326 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



the council residing in Baltimore and Washington, appointed 

 the following committee to formulate a plan of explorations in 

 accordance with the President's wishes: William H. Brewer 

 (chairman), George F. Becker, C. Hart Merriam, F. W. Put- 

 man, and R. S. Woodward. The committee completed and 

 adopted its report on February 7, 1903. The plan proposed 

 covered the following subjects which the committee recom- 

 mended should receive attention in the order here given pro- 

 vided they could not all be taken up at the same time: Coast 

 and geodetic surveying and marine hydrography, land topog- 

 raphy, including surveys and classification of public lands, 

 geology and mineral resources, botany, systematic forestry (or 

 forestry problems), zoology, anthropology. 



In order to properly coordinate the work, the committee 

 proposed that it should be in charge of a board of scientific 

 experts, to be selected from the various scientific bureaus of the 

 Government. The board was to be assisted by a scientific 

 council, to consist of the chief field officers of the several bureaus 

 engaged in the work and presided over by a member of the 

 Philippine Commission. The council was to have an officer of 

 the Engineer Corps of the Army and a naval officer associated 

 with it. 



This report was transmitted to President Roosevelt on Feb- 

 ruary 12, 1903. 



On March 9, 1903, about a month after the committee of 

 the Academy had presented its report, President Roosevelt 

 appointed a board, called the Board of Scientific Surveys of the 

 Philippine Islands, for the purpose of developing the plans out- 

 lined by the Academy. 



" WHITE HOUSE, 



" WASHINGTON, March 9, 1903. 



" MY DEAR SIR: At my request, the National Academy of Sciences has outlined 

 a comprehensive plan for scientific explorations of the Philippine Islands in a 

 report, a copy of which I transmit herewith for your information. 



" A plan of exploration so broad and systematic has never hitherto been pre- 

 pared for any region, and if it can be carried into effect, it will add to human 



