Mat is, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



795 



could never be made suitable for tbe purposes 

 of the bureau. The delicate physical appa- 

 ratus is constantly affected by vibrations from 

 the heavy printing presses. At least twenty- 

 five rooms in the main building are so dark 

 that it is impossible to work in them without 

 the aid of artificial light. In the darkest of 

 these rooms forty-five persons are working 

 from 9 in the morning until 4 :30 in the after- 

 noon by the help of electric light. Unless 

 they are soon provided with better-lighted 

 rooms their vision will be permanently im- 

 paired and their capacity for work correspond- 

 ingly decreased. 



Not the least important reason for housing 

 the survey in a modern, fire-proof building of 

 its own is the consideration that government 

 property and records valued at approximately 

 $6,000,000 are in constant danger of loss by 

 fire. Recently, over $10,000 worth of property 

 was destroyed in twenty minutes by a fire in 

 the photographic laboratory on the top floor 

 of the main building. The buildings contain 

 over 100,000 square feet of varnished and in- 

 flammable wooden partitions, along which fire 

 could spread with great rapidity. Many of 

 the records thus flimsily sheltered could not be 

 replaced at any price. 



What the survey needs is a strong, fire-proof, 

 well-lighted building containing a net avail- 

 able space of at least 150,000 square feet, ex- 

 clusive of basement and halls. Such a build- 

 ing would cost about $1,200,000. The annual 

 rent paid on the buildings now occupied is 

 $34,900, which is nearly three per cent, on 

 $1,200,000. 



A bill for such a structure as is required 

 was introduced in the senate by Mr. Frank P. 

 Flint, of California, on March 21 and in the 

 house of representatives by Mr. James S. 

 Sherman, of New York, on March 26. 



UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC AND THE 

 EARTHQUAKE. 

 The University of the Pacific, San Jose, 

 California, the oldest institution of higher 

 learning on the Pacific coast, was damaged to 

 the extent of about $60,000, net, during the 

 recent earthquake. East Hall, a large four- 

 story brick building, the only building on the 



campus seriously damaged, will be lowered to 

 two stories. The fourteen rooms on the 

 ground floor are occupied by laboratories. Two 

 thousand dollars had just been put into addi- 

 tional equipment; but the entire loss of appa- 

 ratus, chemicals, etc., will not amount to 

 more than $500. The Monday following the 

 earthquake the laboratories were running as 

 usual, as were the other departments of the 

 university. The other buildings on the 

 campus were not damaged except in the loss of 

 plaster. The executive committee has de- 

 cided to erect a two-story ' earthquake-proof ' 

 building to take the place of the upper half 

 of East Hall. The Jacks-Goodall observatory 

 on the southwest corner of the campus was not 

 injured. Seven buildings owned by the uni- 

 versity in San Francisco were entirely lost; 

 but they will be rebuilt at once. The resi- 

 dence of President McClish was destroyed, but 

 it will be rebuilt. Among the professors, the 

 residences of Dr. Hatzell and Dr. Sawyer were 

 the only ones damaged, and those but slightly. 

 No lives were lost, but two students were in- 

 jured by falling bricks. 



NEW YORE OBSERVATORY AND NAUTICAL 

 MUSEUM. 



Preliminary plans have just been formu- 

 lated for the organization of a great marine 

 museum for the city of New York. It is ex- 

 pected that this will mean to the navigator 

 what the Metropolitan Museimi means to the 

 lover of art and the American Museum to the 

 student of natural history. The new insti- 

 tution will take its place as one of the three 

 great museums of the city of New York, and 

 in it one can study the tides, navigation and 

 marine instruments at first hand. 



As the science of navigation is based on as- 

 tronomy, it will be necessary to have an astro- 

 nomical observatory as an adjunct to it. The 

 capitals of Europe, London, Paris and Berlin, 

 each has its magnificent observatory; and in 

 the United States the cities of Washington, 

 Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Pittsburg, 

 have their big telescopes and finely equipped 

 observatories. The commercial capital of the 

 United States, the second largest city im the 



