September 28, 1883. 



SCIENCE. 



417 



Such a prospect natiiralh' leads us to con- 

 sider the relations of the navy to science. 

 Scientific organizations have shown on every 

 occasion their high appreciation of the efforts 

 of naval officers to secure a scientific training 

 for themselves, and to advance knowledge by 

 their own efforts. Every thing they have done 

 has met with generous recognition from their 

 civilian co-laborers, and they are received upon 

 terms of perfect equality in everj- enterprise 

 in which thej' have taken part. There is no 

 scientific position which would be denied them 

 on the ground that they were naval officei's. 

 and therefore to be regarded as inferiors. To 

 maintain this cordial relationship, nothing 

 more is necessary than that the officers should 

 admit the equality, and make no claims except 

 those which are founded upon merit. AVheu 

 the}- begin to claim precedence and control on 

 the ground of naval rank, they assume a posi- 

 tion in which they will meet with the combined 

 opposition of their scientific co-laborers, and 

 render all co-operation impossible. 



The application of these considerations to 

 the present case is very simple. Naval officers 

 will not find, in scientific quarters, the slight- 

 est opposition to tlieir doing any work at the 

 observator}' which will either advance science, 

 or lead to their own professional improvement. 

 It is, indeed, a mooted question, whether the 

 work can reallj- be well performed by any but 

 a permanent staff of trained assistants, and it 

 must be admitted that the observations made 

 b}' naval officers in the early j'ears of the estab- 

 lishment were not a success. But the officers 

 may justlj' claim that what they did then is 

 no test of what thej- can do now, when a 

 better training has been secured, and a scien- 

 tific spirit has been infused into the service. 

 There is no such question raised on the scien- 

 tific side as. Shall you or shall we do the work ? 

 Shall you or shall we superintend it? What 

 is, then, the ground taken bj- the general scien- 

 tific sentiment of the countrv? Of course, in 

 answering a question of this kind, differences 

 of individual views will be found, and no an- 

 swer can be given which all will accept without 

 modification. But we are persuaded that there 



will be no difficulty in reaching some'conclu- 

 sions which will correctl}' represent the aver- 

 age common sense of the great mass of those 

 who are interested in the subject. We state 

 them as follows : — 



Give the naval officers every possible chance, 

 and let them do every thing which they shall 

 prove themselves able to do. Let the super- 

 intendent be the man, who, in the opinion of 

 the astronomers of the country, is best fitted 

 for the place, whether naval officer or civilian. 



But let the questions, what shall the ob- 

 servatory do, how shall it be done, and is 

 what is done good, be decided exclusively 

 by the highest scientific authority, acting, not 

 privately, and upon the motion of the super- 

 intendent, but officially-, with the weight and' 

 responsibility of legal appointment. Let this 

 authoritj' represent, not merelj- the navy de- 

 partment or naval science, but the science of 

 the whole countr}-, and let the superintendent, 

 whoever he may l)e, be responsible for execut- 

 ing its decisions. The shape it would natu- 

 rally take would be that of a board of control, 

 composed of the leading astronomers of the 

 country. 



We state these points, not as forming a 

 definite plan, or even laying a basis for such a 

 plan, but only as indicating the spirit in which 

 we hold that the case should be considered bj- 

 the two parties. AVhat we ask is as much for 

 the intellectual benefit of the navj- itself as 

 for the good of science, and we earnestly hope 

 that naval officers will meet our views in the 

 spirit in which they are put forth. 



THE NATIONAL RAILWAY EXPOSI- 

 TION.^— \. 



TuE postal-car shown by the Harrison postal- 

 bag rack company of Fond du Lac, Wis., 

 appears to be conveniently- arranged, and pos- 

 sesses many ingenious but simple xlevices for 

 facilitating the conveyance and sorting of letters 

 aud newspapers. The sorting-tables are not 

 fixed, but are hinged by means of hooks on 

 movable stanchions ; and each table, measuring 

 about forty-two inches by eighteen inches, can 

 be detached and stowed awa}-, so that an}- num- 



1 Concluded from No. 2G. 



