July 14, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



45 



wonders of the universe; but, nevertheless, 

 we may be full of hope for the future. Step 

 by step we gain in knowledge, and with each 

 step we acquire better opportunity for im- 

 proving the lot of mankind, and for illumi- 

 nating the dark places in our philosophy of 

 nature. Although we shall none of us live 

 to see the full development of the help 

 which science may render to the world, we 

 rejoice in the belief that chemistry has 

 boundless service still in reserve for the 

 good of the human race. 



Theodore "W. Richards 

 Harvard University 



THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE U. S. COAST AND 



GEODETIC SURVEY i 



The honor of being one of the speakers 

 on this memorable occasion is highly ap- 

 preciated, in spite of a perfect realization 

 of the fact that it comes to me solely because 

 I have had the fortune, good or bad, to 

 survive my predecessors. To live long, ac- 

 cording to a well-known proverb, is to prove 

 that one is not a favorite of the gods; on 

 the other hand, to live long is to furnish 

 fairly good evidence that one has not been 

 found guilty of a capital crime. 



During the past two days the various ac- 

 tivities of this service have been so thor- 

 oughly discussed by competent critics that 

 there is little room for further comment. 

 As I am, in a way, representing the men 

 who directed these activities during the 

 century of its existence, I choose to speak, 

 not for them, but of them, the superintend- 

 ents of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, with 

 some reference to their share in the devel- 

 opment of the work. 



To the republic of Switzerland American 

 science is enormously indebted. Thence 

 came Agassiz, Guyot, Lesquereux, and 

 others who stirred us into scientific activity 



i Address given at the banquet, April 6, 1916. 



fifty years ago, and more than a half cen- 

 tury earlier came Ferdinand Hassler, or- 

 ganizer and first superintendent of the 

 Coast Survey. No brief sketch can do jus- 

 tice to Hassler 's personality or to his all- 

 powerful influence in molding the charac- 

 ter of the new organization, the first of the 

 so-called "scientific bureaus" of the United 

 States government. Educated in the best 

 schools of Europe, intimately acquainted 

 with the most eminent scientific men of the 

 Old World and with experience in the trig- 

 onometrical survey of his native country, 

 he possessed exactly the qualifications nec- 

 essary to a successful launching of the new 

 enterprise. Not the least of these qualifica- 

 tions was one rather rare among men of sci- 

 ence, though common enough in the so- 

 called "learned professions." "With intel- 

 lectual power and technical skill of the 

 highest order he combined an equally high 

 appreciation of his own merits. It is re- 

 lated that when invited to organize and di- 

 rect the survey of the coasts, which had 

 been strongly recommended to Congress 

 by Thomas Jefferson, he demanded and re- 

 ceived a salary equal to that of the head of 

 the department to which the new bureau 

 was assigned. Tempora mutantur! There 

 is also a tradition that when the President 

 objected, saying, "Your salary is as large as 

 that of my Secretary of the Treasury, your 

 superior officer," he replied: "Any presi- 

 dent can make a Secretary of the Treasury 

 but only God Almighty can make a 

 Hassler. ' ' 



Visiting Europe to purchase the neces- 

 sary instruments and standards of meas- 

 ure, he was detained in England as an alien 

 enemy until 1815 and thus a period of 

 nearly ten years elapsed between its au- 

 thorization by act of Congress and the ac- 

 tual inception of the Survey. 



Hassler 's plan of organization, broad and 

 thoroughly worked out, is still the funda- 



