June 24, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



939 



One engineer, one assistant engineer, one elec- 

 trician, two firemen, two watchmen, one 



janitor, one charwoman 9 



58 



Thirteen additional positions will be 

 available for the next fiscal year. All 

 positions in the bureau are filled through 

 the civil service commission, in many cases 

 as the result of special civil service exam- 

 inations. An erroneous idea is more or 

 less prevalent that even scientific appoint- 

 ments in the government are made on the 

 basis of personal or political influence. 

 Nothing could be further from the fact. 

 The officers of the bureau have been free 

 from any such pressure and in every case 

 they have striven to select the best man 

 that was available for any given position. 

 These positions are permanent, the civil 

 service commission affording ample protec- 

 tion against loss of position without suffi- 

 cient cause. Thus, while the interests of 

 the government are protected on the one 

 hand, the interests of the servants of the 

 government are guarded on the other; and 

 while the machinery of selection sometimes 

 seems ponderous and appointments are 

 often considerably delayed, it would be 

 difficult to conceive other methods that 

 would accomplish what the civil service 

 actually does accomplish without equally 

 serious objections of one bind or another. 



For convenience of administration the 

 bureau has been divided into three divi- 

 sions. Division I. is under the personal 

 charge of the director ; Division II. is under 

 the charge of the writer ; and Division III. 

 is under the charge of the chemist, Pro- 

 fessor "W. A. Noyes. 



DIVISION I. 



Division I. comprises six sections, as fol- 

 lows: 



1. Weights and Measures, under the 

 charge of Mr. L. A.; Fischer (Columbia 

 University), who was for many years con- 



nected with the office of Standard Weights 

 and Measures. He is assisted by L. G. 

 Hoxton (University of Virginia), R. Y. 

 Ferner (University of Wisconsin), N. S. 

 Osborne (Michigan School of Mines) and 

 L. L. Smith. 



2. Heat and Thermometry, under the 

 charge of Dr. C. W. Waidner (Johns Hop- 

 kins University), assisted by Dr. G. K. 

 Burgess (M. I. T. and University of Paris) 

 and Mr. H. C. Dickinson (Williams and 

 Clark University). 



3. Light and Optical Instruments, under 

 the personal charge of the director, assisted 

 by Dr. P. G. Nutting (University of Cali- 

 fornia and Cornell) and Mr. F. J. Bates 

 (University of Nebraska). 



4. Engineering Instruments, under the 

 charge of Mr. A. S. Merrill (M. I. T.). 



5. The Office, under the charge of the 

 secretary, Mr. Henry D. Hubbard (Uni- 

 versity of Chicago), assisted by Dr. J. R. 

 Benton (Cornell), librarian, Mr. D. E; 

 Douty (Clark University), storekeeper, 

 four clerks and two messengers. 



6. The Instrument Shop, with Mr. Oscar 

 G. Lange, chief mechanician, and three 

 other mechanicians and two apprentices, 

 and the woodworking shop with two wood- 

 workers. 



DIVISION II. 



Division II. comprises six sections, as 

 follows : 



, 1. Resistance and Electromotive Force, 

 under the charge of Dr. F. A. Wolff (Johns 

 Hopkins University), assisted by Mr. F. B. 

 Cady (Massachusetts Institute of Technol- 

 ogy) and Dr. G. W. Middlekauf (Johns 

 Hopkins University). 



2. Magnetism and Absolute Measure- 

 ment of Current, under the charge of Dr. 

 K. E. Guthe (University of Marburg, Uni- 

 versity of Michigan) . 



3. Inductance and Capacity, under the 

 personal charge of the physicist, assisted 

 by Dr. N. E. Dorsey (Johns Hopkins Uni- 



