220 



SCIENCE 



IN. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 736; 



bureaus carrying on this work have led in- 

 evitably and properly to the questions sub- 

 mitted by Congress to the academy. 



It is plainly desirable, therefore, that Con- 

 gress should make immediate provision to 

 guard against a continuance of the evils vphich 

 arise from a lack of any definite plan for, and 

 from the absence of any adequate correlation 

 of, the scientific work of the government. 



It appears to your committee that the best 

 way to deal with the condition now confront- 

 ing the goverrctnent is to secure the appoint- 

 ment by Congress of a permanent board which 

 shall meet at stated intervals in each year for 

 the consideration of all questions of the in- 

 auguration, the continuance, and the interrela- 

 tions of the various branches of governmental 

 scientific work. We would suggest that such 

 a board should consist of the heads of bureaus 

 carrying on scientific work, of two delegates 

 from each of the Houses of Congress, and of 

 five to seven eminent men of science not con- 

 nected with the government service. 



By means of a few meetings per year, with 

 authorization to secure the requisite informa- 

 tion from the heads of departments and bu- 

 reaus concerned, all of the complicated ques- 

 tions which now are at best only ill considered 

 could be carefully determined with great ad- 

 vantage in point of economy and efficiency to 

 the public service and with little or no addi- 

 tional expense thereto. 



Such a board could take under consideration 

 the prevailing lack of system and lack of cor- 

 relation in the work in question and gradually 

 remove these defects from existing bureaus 

 and divisions of the public service. All ques- 

 tions of the assignment, of the conduct, of 

 advisable consolidation, and of the economies 

 of such work could be fully discussed and 

 determined in the best interests of the govern- 

 ment by such a board. If the heads of bureaus 

 and divisions were required to submit their 

 projects and estimates for work to this board 

 before transmission to the heads of depart- 

 ments and to Congress, all questions of the 

 duplication of work, of the duplication of 

 organizations, of the duplication of labora- 

 tories or equipments, and of the most econom- 

 ical assignment could be readily determined 



without interference in the details of manage- 

 ment of the organizations concerned. 



One of the most important functions of such 

 a board should be that of the nomination or 

 selection of men competent to take charge of 

 new projects or to fill vacancies which may 

 arise in the more important positions of the 

 scientific work in question. It would thus be 

 generally possible to prevent the assignment of 

 an incompetent man to the charge of a highly 

 technical or specialized branch of the public 

 service. It would thus be possible also tO' 

 secure men of the highest professional attain- 

 ments and to prevent the calamity which has- 

 not infrequently occurred in the past of as- 

 signing important scientific work to unprofes- 

 sional or incompetent men. It would thus be- 

 possible likewise to take advantage of the com- 

 petition between different branches of the pub- 

 lic service in the laudable desire of those- 

 branches to prove their efficiency by the ac- 

 complishment of the required work of the gov- 

 ernment in the best and most economical ways.. 

 Very respectfully submitted. 

 R. S. Woodward, 



Chairman, 

 W. W. Campbell, 

 Edward L. Nichols, 

 Arthur A. Notes, 

 Charles R. Van Hise 

 Washington, D. C, 

 January 9, 1909 



RECENT WORK OF THE MOUNT WILSON 

 SOLAR OBSERVATORY 



Monochromatic photographs of the sun have- 

 been made daily on Mount Wilson since Oc- 

 tober, 1906, with the Snow telescope and five- 

 foot spectroheliograph. The weather has been 

 very favorable, permitting calcium, hydrogen 

 and frequently iron images to be taken on 

 303 days in 1908, and on 113 consecutive days- 

 during the summer of 190Y. Prior to March, 

 1908, the hydrogen photographs were made- 

 with the light of the violet line HS. Since 

 that time, with the aid of plates sensitized by 

 Wallace's formula, excellent results have been 

 obtained with the red hydrogen line Ea. 

 These record the phenomena of a region in the- 

 solar atmosphere higher than that previously- 



