318 
NATURE 
[| August 6, 1885 
the Coast and Geodetic Survey as having undertaken a 
trigonometric survey of the whole United States. 
The general views of the Committee respecting the 
working of the departments of the Government are worthy 
of special attention. They conceive it to be a sound 
principle that Congress should not undertake any work 
which can be equally well done by the enterprise of indi- 
vidual investigators. The leading universities are con- 
stantly increasing the means of scientific research by their 
professors and students ; and, while the Government may 
with propriety encourage and cooperate with them, there 
is no reason why it should compete with them. The 
scientific work of the Government ought not, therefore, 
to be such as can be undertaken by individuals. It 
should also be confined to the increase and systematisa- 
tion of knowledge tending “to promote the general wel- 
fare” of the country. Within these two restrictions there 
is a large and increasing field, which is only partly occu- 
pied by the organisations now under consideration. 
The attention of Congress should be directed to the 
fact that the administration of a scientific bureau or 
department involves greater difficulties than that of a 
purely business department. The connections between 
the work done and the results ultimately to be attained 
for the public are not at all obvious to the people and 
press, and thus the great benefit of vigilant watching and 
constant criticism is wanting. Again: its administration 
requires a combination of scientific knowledge with 
administrative ability, which is more difficult to command 
than either of these qualities separately. These diffi- 
culties are intensified by the absence of any central 
authority to control the work of a Government scientific 
organisation. Each head of a scientific organisation is 
now practically absolutely independent, and, in his indi- 
vidual judgment of what his organisation shall do, is con- 
trolled only by Congress itself, acting only through its 
annual appropriation bills. The Committee conceive that 
this state of things calls for measures of reform. 
A feature of such reform will be the collection of the 
organisations now under consideration, together with such 
other scientific bureaus as Congress may see fit to include 
in the scheme, under one central authority, to be recog- 
nised as responsible for, and controlling generally, the 
scientific operations of the Government. Various forms 
of such an authority might be devised, the choice of. 
which will some day be made by Congress. The best 
form would be, in the opinion of the Committee, perhaps, 
the establishment of a “ department of science,” the head 
of which should be an administrator familiar with scien- 
tific affairs, but not necessarily an investigator in any 
special branch. 
“Your Committee,” the Report concludes, “ states only 
the general sentiment and wish of men of science, when 
it says that its members believe the time is near when the 
country will demand the institution of a branch of the 
executive government devoted especially to the direction 
and control of all the purely scientific work of the Govern- 
ment. In this day the pursuit of science itself is, visibly 
to all men of education, directly connected with the pro- 
motion of the general welfare. 
“Should such a department be now impracticable, 
should public opinion not be now ready for it, the next 
best measure, in the opinion of scientific men, would be 
to transfer all such work or bureaus to some one executive 
department. Keeping in mind what has been said re- 
specting the two classes of work under the Signal Service, 
we are of opinion that the functions of the several organ- 
isations under consideration could now be most advan- 
tageously divided among perhaps four bureaus, viz. :— 
“1. The Coast and Interior Survey, to be concerned 
principally with geodesy and hydrography, and to consist 
of the present Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
“2. The Geological Survey, to comprise the present 
Geological Survey with its organisation unchanged. 
“3 The Meteorological Bureau, to which should be 
transferred so much of the present fersonze/ and functions 
of the chief signal office as are not necessary to the 
military duties of that office. 
“4. A physical observatory, to investigate the laws of 
solar and terrestrial radiation, and their application to 
meteorology, with such other investigations in exact 
science as the Government might assign to it. In this 
connection, attention is called to a resolution passed by 
the recent Electrical Conference in Philadelphia, request- 
ing the establishment, by the Government, of a Bureau of 
Electrical Standards. We are of opinion that the func- 
tions of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, now per- 
formed by the Coast Survey, could be advantageously 
transferred to the proposed bureau, and extended so as 
to include electrical measures. 
“The members of your committee are conscious that 
placing these bureaus under one department would not 
necessarily result in the proper co-ordination of their 
work, because the head of such department would prob- 
ably find it impracticable to enter into the consideration 
of all details necessary to that purpose. It appears to us 
that the evils already pointed out require, in any case, 
the organisation of a permanent Commission to prescribe 
a general policy for each of these bureaus. The functions 
of this Commission would be :— 
“1, To examine, improve, and approve the plans of 
work proposed by the several bureaus, and to revise their 
estimates in accordance with such plan. The perform- 
ance of this duty would require consultation with their 
chiefs generally and separately respecting the character 
of their work, and they should be members of the 
Commission. 
“>. To approve in detail the methods of expenditure 
of the appropriations. 
“3. To recommend such measures as they deem neces- 
sary to the efficiency of the bureaus under their super- 
vision. It should, however, be understood that this 
Commission is not charged with purely administrative 
responsibility. It prescribes what shall be done, and 
recommends any measures necessary to secure that 
object, but does not concern itself with administrative 
details. 
“We submit the following as a suggestion for the 
formation and fersonnel of such a Commission :— 
“ The Commission shall consist of (1) the President of 
the National Academy of Sciences ; (2) the Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution ; (3) and (4) two civilians of 
high scientific reputation, not otherwise in the Govern- 
ment service, to be appointed by the President of the 
United States for the term of six years ; (5) one officer of 
the Corps of Engineers of the army ; (6) one Professor 
of Mathematics in the navy, skilled in astronomy—these 
two to be designated by the President of the United 
States for a term of six years—who, with (7) the Superin- 
tendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey; (8) the 
Director of the Geological Survey ; and (9) the officer in 
charge of the Meteorological Service; shall constitute 
the Commission of ——. The Secretary of the —— 
department shall be ex officio President of the Com- 
mission, 
“The members of the Commission, for their services as 
such, shall each be paid by the United States compensa- 
tion in the sum of —— dollars per annum. Their neces- 
sary transportation and travelling expenses shall be pro- 
vided for as are those of the officers of the army and navy 
when travelling on public business or duty, to be paid out 
of the appropriations for the services under their super- 
vision. 
“The Commission shall meet in Washington, D.C., for 
the transaction of business, not less than four times a 
year; but the President of the Commission may convene 
it whenever in his judgment the exigencies of the service 
require a meeting. 
