October 8, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



329 



work involved in the general scientific ex- 

 ploration of the Pacific ocean. 



This survey should establish a system of 

 horizontal and vertical control, determine 

 shore line and adjacent topogTaphic features 

 in true geographic position, develop submarine 

 relief, collect and describe the materials of 

 the bottom, observe temperature and salinity 

 and define vertical and horizontal movements 

 of the water. The hydrographic bureaus of 

 the nations of the Pacific, as now organized 

 and operating, need only expand their equip- 

 ment and extend their field to meet the re- 

 quirements of this project. Closer coopera- 

 tion is desirable in the interest of uniformity 

 and to avoid duplication. 



These results, in addition to their bearing 

 upon research work, have such a great eco- 

 nomic value to the shipping, fisheries, and 

 other marine interests that the cost of the 

 survey for the collection of the necessary 

 data is relatively insignificant. It is stated 

 in a recent publication of the United States 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey that the vessels 

 wrecked in the coastal waters of California, 

 Oregon and Washington in the year 1917 on 

 account of the incompleteness of the charts 

 involved a loss which amounted to more than 

 double the estimated cost of a complete hy- 

 drographic survey of those waters. 



This unfinished state of the hydrographic 

 survey along the west coast of the United 

 States is not exceptional; few regions of the 

 Pacific of any considerable extent have been 

 thoroughly developed. This conference makes 

 appreciative acknowledgement of the notable 

 contributions made to the survey of the 

 coastal waters of the Pacific by the several 

 nations bordering thereon; but in view of 

 the magnitude of the work and the length 

 of time involved in its execution it commends 

 this general project and urges its early 

 execution. 



3. Use of Wireless Telegraphy in Longitude 

 Determination 

 This conference commends the use of wire- 

 less telegraphy for the improvement of deter- 

 minations of the longitude of the islands in 

 the Pacific. 



4. Magnetic Survey 



The general survey of the Pacific ocean 

 should be continued to an early conclusion 

 and provision made for such additional work 

 as may be needed to determine annual and 

 secular changes in the magnetic elements. 

 The field of work should be extended to in- 

 clude the coastal waters, where the magnetic 

 phenomena are complex, and their determina- 

 tion essential to many important interests. 



Systematic operations under this project 

 are a comparatively recent undertaking; but 

 already excellent results have been obtained 

 in the Pacific from the work of the Carnegie 

 InstitutiC'U. 



The work is of immediate and vital im- 

 portance to navigation, and surveying, in 

 addition to its bearing upon the general sub- 

 ject of geophysics and this conference hopes 

 that plans may be made for a complete 

 magnetic survey of the Pacific region and 

 that the work may be expedited. 



5. Physical Oceanography 



Oceanographic investigations yield results 

 which constitute a basis essential for scientific 

 exploration and research in the Pacific region, 

 notably in meteorology, geology, botany, and 

 biology. Moreover, such investigations are of 

 importance to navigators in disclosing dan- 

 gers to vessels sailing the ocean, and are of 

 economic value in enabling vessels to save 

 time and fuel in their navigation. 



The present knowledge of the oceanography 

 of the Pacific is deficient in every branch, and 

 constitutes but a meager array of data scat- 

 tered widely. 



In the oceanographic investigation of the 

 Pacific waters the configuration of the bottom 

 should be determined, specimens of the bot- 

 tom deposits collected and their thickness and 

 stratification revealed, the physical and chem- 

 ical characteristics of the water at different 

 depths and times determined, and the hori- 

 zontal and vertical circulation of the waters 

 observed. 



The field work involved in such investiga- 

 tions must be carried on almost entirely by 

 the governmental hydrographic organizations 



