August 6, 1885 | 
NATURE 
317 
My left hand, which was hanging by my side, experienced pre- 
cisely the same sensation as I have felt in receiving a shock 
from a weak galvanic battery. About three minutes afterwards 
we heard a peal of thunder, but, though we waited for some 
time, we neither saw nor heard anything further. 
The gardener, who was one of the four, thus describes what 
he saw:—I thought it was a cloud of dust blowing up the 
avenue, and before I could think how that could be when there 
was not a breath of wind, I saw you three gentlemen covered for 
a second in a bright light, and that was all. Another of the party 
says that he observed what seemed to be a luminous cloud 
running up the avenue witha wavy motion. When it reached the 
party it rose off the ground and passed over the bodies of two 
of them, casting a sort of flash on their shoulders. The distance 
traversed was about twenty yards, and the time occupied between 
two and three seconds. (My own estimate of distance and 
velocity makes the time occupied almost exactly two seconds.) 
The day had been extremely hot and sultry, as also had the 
preceding day been, the thermometer readings being sometimes 
8o° F. in the shade. 
On asking the gardener for further particulars, he tells me 
that the distance traversed by the luminous cloud was about 
forty yards, and that, when it had gone about half the distance, 
he saw a flash of lightning in the direction of it, but sideways ; 
also that the top of the cloud seemed to be three or four feet from 
the ground, and it gradually rose higher as it came along. When 
the cloud reached the party he saw one of them distinctly by its 
light, the night being otherwise quite dark at the time; and, 
lastly, that the cloud went a few yards beyond the party into 
the open space in front of the house, and then disappeared. 
J. B. A. Warr 
Marchfield, Davidson’s Mains, Midlothian 
Our Ancestors 
DuRING eight centuries—say to the time of the Norman con- 
quest—one’s direct ancestors amount to a far greater number 
than would at first be contemplated. Taking three generations 
to a century, one has father and mother (2), grandparents (4), 
great-grandparents (8). At the end of the second century the 
number of ancestors springs to 64. Following the calculation 
you will find that at the end of eight centuries one is descended 
from no less than 16,000,000 ancestors. Intermarriage of course 
would reduce this estimate, and there is no doubt it must have 
largely prevailed. But the figures are so enormous that, in 
spite of all, I venture to suggest that the words ‘‘ All ye are 
brethren ” are literally true. ( I i 
2 
CO-ORDINATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC 
BUREAUS OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT 
MOVEMENT is on foot in the United States for 
rearranging the various scientific departments of 
the Government under one central authority, and a report 
on the subject has been made by a committee of the 
National Academy of Sciences, consisting of Gen. Meigs, 
and Professors Trowbridge, Pickering, Young, Walker, 
and Langley, appointed for the purpose. The Report is 
published at length in Sczemce. After referring to the 
state of things in Europe in this respect, it gives a brief 
account of the method in which such bureaus are organ- 
ised in other countries; discusses at some length the 
character of the work done by the coast and geodetic and 
the geological surveys, especially in those points where 
their provinces are similar, pointing out that two distinct 
and independent trigonometric surveys of the United 
States are now in process of execution; distinguishes 
between the military and meteorological work of the 
Signal Service, and recommends their complete separa- 
tion ; indicates the danger of duplication of work by the 
Coast Survey and Hydrographic Office, but is not pre- 
pared to recommend that the latter be detached in any 
way from the control of the Navy Department, nor that 
the hydrographic work of the Coast Survey, for over forty 
years conducted so satisfactorily, be separated from that 
organisation, but suggests the lines on which it thinks 
the Coast Survey should work ; lays down the principle 
that the Government should not undertake any work 
which can be equally well done by the enterprise of indi- 
vidual investigators, and that such work should be con- 
fined to what will “promote the general welfare of the 
country ;” urges the importance of a proper extension of 
the trigonometrical survey of the United States; and, 
finally, recommends either the establishment of a depart- 
ment of science, or of a mixed commission of nine 
members—two of them scientific civilians to be appointed 
by the president for six years, two scientific men from the 
army and navy, three heads of the principal scientific 
bureaus, together with the president of the National 
Academy, and the secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution. 
To the Department of Science, or to the supervision of 
this Commission, it would transfer the Coast Survey, the 
Geological Survey, and the Meteorological Bureau, and 
establishing a physical laboratory, add to it a Bureau of 
Weights and Measures, the functions of which are now 
performed by the Coast Survey. The province of the 
proposed Commission is amply defined. 
In the course of the Report the Committee give an 
interesting sketch of the work accomplished by the Coast 
Survey. 
The Coast Survey was originally organised for the 
purpose of constructing maps and charts of the coast and 
harbours for the benefit of commerce and navigation. 
Conflicting opinions respecting the proper management 
of the Survey led to the formation, in 1843, of a board of 
officers with the duty of reorganising the Survey. This 
board submitted a plan which was enacted by Congress 
into law, upon and under which law the Survey has 
hitherto been executed. This plan provided for the co- 
operation of military officers, naval officers, and civilians 
in the various parts of the work. Under it the work of 
the Coast Survey has been continued to the present 
time. 
In recent times a great extension of the field of opera- 
tions of the Survey has been made, apparently looking to 
a triangulation covering the entire territory of the United 
States. The maps published annually with the report of 
the Survey enable us to know the geodetic work it has 
executed. It appears, from the maps accompanying the 
report of 1882, that on June 30 of that year a chain of 
triangles had been extended throughout the entire length 
of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and throughout about half 
the Pacific coast. Besides these coast-lines, extensive 
regions in the interior are seen to be triangulated. In 
the north-east, the triangulation covers the greater part 
of the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massa- 
chusetts, about half of Connecticut, and it also includes a 
considerable part of the State of New York. 
The reconnaissance has extended westward from the 
New Jersey coast, so as to include the greater part of the 
State of New Jersey, and a long strip in Pennsylvania. 
From Pennsylvania, the extended line of primary triangu- 
lation follows the Alleghany Mountains into Northern 
Alabama, and is now being continued across the country 
to Memphis. 
A triangulation of the Mississippi River was extended 
from its mouth nearly to Memphis, where it would meet 
the last-described chain of triangles. The chain connect- 
ing the Atlantic and Pacific coasts has been completed 
nearly across the State of Nevada, and the reconnaissance 
includes nearly half of Utah Territory. The line is also 
surveyed at various points in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, 
and Illinois. Besides all this, isolated regions in Wis- 
consin, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee 
have been reconnoitred by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
in a way indicative of a plan designed ultimately to cover 
the entire territory. As its appropriations for some years 
past have made provision for the collection of data for a 
general map of the United States, we may fairly regard 
