SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1123 



happier form of immortality than this — to 

 have added something to the world's store 

 of fact and of law ! 



Many then are the inspirations of re- 

 search, and many the satisfactions of the 

 teacher and the investigator. If we keep 

 our view point clear, recognize the many 

 ways in which new facts and new thoughts 

 are garnered, avoid the spirit of pride and 

 intolerance — we can be assured that from 

 our university faculties there will come a 

 spirit of research and of helpfulness that 

 will act as a powerful factor in moving 

 civilization onward and we hope upward. 



Rat Lyman Wilbur 

 Stanford University 



CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE UNITED 



STATES COAST AND GEODETIC 



SURVEY TO GEODESY i 



In the earlier days of the Coast Survey, 

 whose centennial is now heing commemo- 

 rated, the geodetic function, as such, was 

 little in evidence. It was then simply an 

 aid in carrying on the work outlined in the 

 Act of 1807, which provided for a survey of 

 the coasts of the United States, in order to 

 provide accurate charts of every part of the 

 coast and adjacent waters. 



Upon the reorganization of the Survey in 

 1843, the cornerstone was laid for that fine 

 system of geodetic works which the Survey 

 has at present. In this reorganization two 

 very prominent features, from a geodetic 

 standpoint, are to be noted. The first is the 

 man who was the dominant figure in the 

 board of reorganization, and the second is 

 the principles he advocated. Probably no 

 other man has had the influence upon the 

 geodetic operations of the Survey as had 

 Superintendent F. R. Hassler, and probably 

 no one thing has been of such importance 

 to these operations as the scientific meth- 

 ods proposed by him. To him belongs the 



i Address given at the celebration of the cen- 

 tennial of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survev. 



credit that to-day the operations of the 

 Survey are bound together by a trigonomet- 

 ric survey with long lines, and executed by 

 the most accurate instruments, and the 

 most refined methods, rather than being 

 correlated by purely astronomical observa- 

 tions. Due to his far-sightedness, the best 

 of foundations was thus laid for geodetic 

 operations, and from this time geodesy be- 

 came an important part of the Survey's 

 work. 



A further impetus was given to the work 

 when, shortly after the close of the Civil 

 "War, Congress authorized a geodetic con- 

 nection between the Atlantic and Pacific 

 coasts of the United States. The result of 

 this was the great transcontinental arc of 

 triangulation along the 39th parallel of lati- 

 tude, one of the most famous arcs in the 

 history of geodesy, and one which has 

 helped to place the United States in the 

 front rank of the nations carrying on geo- 

 detic operations. One of the immediate re- 

 sults was the recognition of the geodetic 

 function as an important part of the Coast 

 Survey's work, and in 1879 the Survey's 

 title officially became ' ' The Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey." 



THE TRANSCONTINENTAL ARC 



The great triangulation system along the 

 39th parallel was probably the greatest 

 single contribution to the world's geodesy 

 that had been made by any one country. 

 It marks an epoch in the scientific history 

 of the United States and in that of the 

 world. The results of the work are most 

 important and far-reaching to geodesy, 

 geography, geology, and the other earth 

 sciences. 



It is the longest arc of a parallel ever 

 undertaken by a single nation, being more 

 than 48° of longitude between its extrem- 

 ities, or about one-eighth of the earth's cir- 

 cuit, and is more than half the length of 

 the combined arcs (measured by various 



