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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 406. 



mere elaborators, but made also important 

 original contributions, and the ideas which 

 he gave the wox'ld through others are thus 

 so merged and mingled with theirs that 

 they can never be separated. If we count 

 the inspiration of his colleagues as part of 

 his work of organization then the organi- 

 zation of researches may properly be placed 

 first in the list of his contributions to the 

 progress of science. Other terms of the 

 list pertain to the fields of geology, physical 

 and economic geography, anthropology and 

 philosophy. 



The creation of the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey belonged to the logic of events and 

 would undoubtedly have taken place with- 

 in a few years without Powell's assistance, 

 but his active advocacy hastened the change 

 and his ideas had greater influence than 

 those of any other individual in determin- 

 ing the mode of reconstruction of the na- 

 tional scientific work. He was so .promi- 

 nent as a promoter of reorganization that 

 when it had been accomplished he felt that 

 his motives might be impugned if he be- 

 came a candidate for the directorship of 

 the Survey, and he therefore declined to 

 have his name presented. It is proper to 

 add that the scheme of reorganization 

 which he advocated was not adopted in 

 full. His plan included the organization 

 of three bureaus to conduct investigation 

 in the fields of geology, geography and 

 ethnology, but Congress created only two 

 bi^reaus, leaving geography without spe- 

 cial provision. The work of geographic 

 mapping was taken up by the Geological 

 Survey as a means for providing base maps 

 for the use of geologists, and thus the Sur- 

 vey has become a bureau of geography as 

 well as geology. 



Two years later, when Powell succeeded 

 King in the administration of the Geolog- 

 ical Survey, he found the subdivision of 

 the work arranged largely on geographic 

 lines. There were branch offices at Denver, 



Salt Lake City and San Francisco, each in 

 charge of a chief who directed the geologic 

 and topographic work of a large district. 

 For this classification Powell gradually 

 substituted one based upon function, abol- 

 ishing the districts and separate offices and 

 creating divisions of topography, general 

 geology, and economic geology, coordinate 

 with divisions of paleontology, physics and 

 chemistry. Areal or geographic classifica- 

 tion was still used, but was subordinated to 

 a subject classification. 



Careful attention was given to the finan- 

 cial system of the biireau, the machinery 

 by which the public funds were paid out 

 and accounted for, and the wisdom of this 

 attention was afterward fully justified. 

 When in later years the affairs of the Sur- 

 vey were subjected to unfriendly and 

 searching investigation the accounts were 

 found in such perfect condition as to elicit 

 the highest praise of the Comptroller of 

 the Treasury, to whom the results of the 

 investigation were finally referred. The 

 reputation of the Survey for good business 

 methods inspired the confidence of legis- 

 lators and led them to provide for the 

 growth of the bureau, not only by the in- 

 crease of approiDriations for existing func- 

 tions, but through the gradual enlargement 

 of function. The most important single 

 addition to its duties was that of studying 

 the water supply of the country with ref- 

 erence to various economic problems. 



Except for the original suggestion or 

 instruction by Professor Henry, and ex- 

 cept for the votes of funds by Congress, 

 the Bureau of Ethnology may be regarded 

 as Powell's creation. Work on American 

 ethnology had previously been discursive, 

 unorganized, and to a large extent dilet- 

 tanti. He gave to it definite purposes con- 

 formable to high scientific standards, and 

 personally trained its corps of investiga- 

 tors. To men who had previously inter- 

 ested themselves in the study of Indians 



