January 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



lo5 



duce confusion, as in the case of every other 

 executive branch of the government: not, as 

 is frequently maintained, the change of the 

 head or administrative officer. He nrnst nec- 

 essarily continue the policy left by his pre- 

 decessor until experience has demonstrated the 

 wisdom of innovations. 



In addition to the drawback to efficient ad- 

 ministration and labor caused by the reorgan- 

 ization of the personnel, most of the time of 

 the superintendent and staS during the latter 

 half of the year has been given up to answer- 

 ing questions called forth by several investi- 

 gating boards. These boards have consisted 

 of: 



1. A board ordered by the Navy Depart- 

 ment, composed of Eear-Admiral F. M. 

 Eamsay, TJ. S. Navy; Capt. J. E. Pillsbury, 

 XJ. S. Navy; and Commander C. J. Badger, 

 U. S. Navy; 'for the purpose of inquiring 

 into and reporting upon the advisability of 

 eliminating or transferring to other than the 

 control of the Navy Department any of the 

 work now performed at the Naval Observa- 

 tory.' 



This board reported that ' in the opinion of 

 the board, the regular work of the Naval Ob- 

 servatory is essential to the Navy; it can be 

 systematically and successfully accomplished 

 only under government control ; and no portion 

 of it should be discontinued or transferred to 

 other than the control of the Navy Depart- 

 ment.' 



2. The General Board of the Navy, of 

 which Admiral of the Navy George Dewey is 

 president, to which was referred the same 

 subject that was referred to the preceding 

 board, rendered a similar decision. 



3. A conunittee ordered by the President 

 of the United States, composed of Mr. Charles 

 D. Walcott, chairman ; Brig. Gen. William 

 Crozier, U. S. Army; Eear-Admiral Francis 

 T. Bowles, IJ. S. Navy; Mr. Gifford Pinchot 

 and Mr. James E. Garfield, to report upon 

 various matters connected with the organiza- 

 tion of the government scientific work. The 

 report of this committee has not yet been made 

 public, but it also thoroughly investigated the 

 Naval Observatory. 



Added to the drain on the time of the astro- 

 nomical staff incident to the above-enumerated 

 conditions is that due to the greatly increased 

 demand for navigational instruments for the 

 numerous ships building for the Navy. No 

 small portion of the labor due to this demand 

 has fallen on the Naval Observatory. Form- 

 erly from four to six naval line officers were 

 employed in the three departments of nautical 

 instruments, storekeeper and chronometers 

 and time service. Now one lieutenant-com- 

 mander is the only line officer detailed for the 

 combined duties of all three departments. 

 Other branches of the naval service have been 

 supplied with additional men paid from the 

 general appropriation ' Increase of the Navy ' 

 to meet these conditions, but the requirements 

 of this observatory seem to have been over- 

 looked. 



Failing to procure the needed force for this 

 important service, it has been necessary, un- 

 der the Bureau of Equipment's general order 

 to sacrifice astronomy for military duties, to 

 assign two computers from the astronomical 

 force to keep up with the extraordinary de- 

 mands of the fleet. Further than this, as is 

 shown in the report of the head of the depart- 

 ment of nautical instruments, articles of 

 equipment for naval vessels are such that the 

 board of inspection which passes upon in- 

 voices before they are paid for must devote 

 much time to the examination of each article, 

 and thus not only has the fleet made an un- 

 usual number of calls on the observatory staff, 

 but each call has required a greater amount 

 of time than is usual at other naval stations. 

 It should be remembered that navigational in- 

 truments can not be passed over with the 

 cursory inspection given to ordinary supplies 

 for a ship, but must be subjected to a critical 

 test of all their different parts under varying 

 conditions, needing at times Several hours to 

 pass one item of a schedule. As the one line 

 officer at the observatory can not report upon 

 the articles under his charge, professors of 

 mathematics who are employed for astro- 

 nomical work have been detailed to act on 

 the board of inspection, thereby detracting 

 from their own individual work. 



Feeling as I do that the work of the Naval 



