Juny 5, 1918] 
Franklin, of Leland Stanford University ; Wil- 
liam Hoskins, chemical engineer of Chicago; 
Professor H. P. Talbot, of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, Dr. Ira Remsen, 
president emeritus of Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity; Professor F. W. Richards, of Harvard; 
Dr. Charles L. Parsons, of the Bureau of 
Mines; Dr. Reed Hunt, of Harvard; Professor 
W. D. Bancroft, of Cornell; Professor A. B. 
Lamb, of the Havemeyer Laboratory, New 
York University; W. K. Lewis, Chemical 
Engineer of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology; Professor C. A. Hulett, of 
Princeton; Yandell Henderson, of the Yale 
Medical School, and Dr. F. B. Underhill, of 
Yale. 
In a letter dated June 26 to Dr. Van H. 
Manning, chief of the Bureau of Mines, 
notifying him of the coordination of war gas 
experimental work in the War Department, 
President Wilson wrote as follows : 
I have had before me for some days the ques- 
tion presented by the Secretary of War involving 
the transfer of the chemical section established by 
you at the American University from the Bureau 
of Mines to the newly organized Division of Gas 
Warfare, in which the War Department is now 
concentrating all the various facilities for offensive 
and defensive gas operations. I am satisfied that 
a more efficient organization can be effected by 
having these various activities under one direction 
and control, and my hesitation about acting in the 
matter has grown only out of a reluctance to take 
away from the Bureau of Mines a piece of work 
which thus far it has so effectively performed. 
The Secretary of War has assured me of his own 
recognition of the splendid work you have been 
able to do, and I am taking the liberty of inclos- 
ing a letter which I have received from him in 
order that you may see how fully the War Depart- 
ment recognizes the value of the services. 
I am to-day signing the order directing the 
transfer. I want, however, to express to you my 
own appreciation of the fine and helpful piece of 
work which you have done, and to say that this 
sort of teamwork by the bureaus outside of the di- 
rect war-making agency is one of the cheering and 
gratifying evidences of the way our official forces 
are inspired by the presence of a great national 
task. 
SCIENCE 7 
WAR ACTIVITIES OF THE U. S. COAST AND 
GEODETIC SURVEY 
By executive order dated May 16, 1918, the 
President transferred to the service and juris- 
diction of the Navy Department for temporary 
use the Coast and Geodetic Survey steamers 
Patterson and Explorer, including their equip- 
ment and personnel other than commissioned 
officers. These vessels have been employed for 
many years in surveys on the Pacific coast and 
chiefly on the coast of Alaska. 
Since the beginning of the war the work of 
this bureau has been almost entirely for mili- 
tary purposes. Five vessels, three on the At- 
lantic and two on the Pacific coast, have been 
transferred to the Navy, and about twenty- 
three per cent. of the personnel has been trans- 
ferred to some branch of the military service. 
Of the remaining force most of the field offi- 
cers are engaged in land or hydrographic sur- 
veys for the Army or Navy, and a large por- 
tion of the office force is employed in reducing: 
and publishing the results thus obtained. 
A very important part of the office work is 
the preparation and production of charts, coast 
pilots and tide tables for vessels of the Navy 
and Merchant Marine, including those operated 
by the Shipping Board, the Railroad Adminis- 
tration, the Coast Guard and the Bureau of 
Lighthouses. The officers of the Survey are 
trained in work of triangulation, precise level- 
ing, astronomie work, hydrographic surveying 
and chart construction, and are particularly 
available for service as navigation officers in 
the Navy and for duty with the Corps of Engi- 
neers, the Artillery Corps and the Aviation 
Service of the Army. 
MAGNETIC OBSERVATIONS 
THE various parties sent out by the Carnegie 
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and the 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
have all reported securing successful series of 
magnetic observations during the time of the 
total solar eclipse of June 8. Magnetic ob- 
servations were made by the Coast and Geo- 
detic Survey at Green River, Wyo., Mena, 
Ark., and Orlando, Fla. In addition data will 
be obtained from the various magnetic ob- 
servatories of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
