May 12, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



669 



late as 1914 the wire drag party found no less 

 than 50 shoals at the entrance to Buzzard Bay, 

 from which vessels now pick their way into the 

 newly constructed Cape Cod Canal. 



The United States Corps of Engineers and its de- 

 lation to the United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey: Brigadier General W. M. Black. 

 The association in work of the corps of engineers 

 and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 began with the organization of the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey. 



The Corps of Engineers was organized as a sepa- 

 rate body in 1802 and of it the IT. S. Military 

 Academy formed a part. The first superintendent 

 of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Ferdinand R. 

 Hassler, was appointed from the corps of instruc- 

 tors of the academy, having served there as acting 

 professor of mathematics from 1807 until 1810. 



When the necessity for the better mapping of 

 our coasts was impressed upon President Jeffer- 

 son he selected Hassler to take charge, though it 

 was not until 1816 that the work of the survey was 

 actually begun. About a year later the work was 

 discontinued, though the survey of the coasts was 

 carried on thereafter by officers of the engineers 

 and of the Navy until the bureau resumed its 

 operations under Hassler in 1832. 



Among the engineer officers on duty on survey 

 work prior to 1832 was John J. Abert, who as 

 major and lieutenant colonel, was engaged in many 

 surveys of the coast from 1816 to 1827. 



For several years beginning in 1818 the interna- 

 tional boundary surveys required under the Treaty 

 of Ghent were carried on along the northern boun- 

 daries of New York, "Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and Maine. iSecoud Lieutenant Delafield, Captain 

 Partridge and Professor Ellicott of the corps of 

 engineers and Professor Hassler of the Coast Sur- 

 vey were engaged in the work. 



When in 1843 it was deemed necessary to reor- 

 ganize the Coast Survey the corps of engineers 

 again lent its aid. Alexander Dallas Bache, a 

 graduate of the Military Academy of 1825, and 

 during Ms period of service in the army an officer 

 of the corps of engineers, was appointed superin- 

 tendent and remained as the head of the survey 

 until hia death in 1867. 



In announcing his death the Secretary of the 

 Treasury paid tribute to the value of his services 

 in maintaining the high scientific character of the 

 survey. 



From 1843 through a period of many years, offi- 



cers of both the Army and Navy served by detail 

 with the Coast Survey Bureau. 



The accurate method of observing latitude with 

 the zenith telescope was the invention of Captain 

 Andrew Talcott of the corps of engineers. 



This record shows how directly the corps of 

 engineers has been interested in the work of the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



During the past half century the two services 

 have had few opportunities to associate in the 

 same work, but the association of the two organi- 

 zations does not end with this. Their work is 

 mutually helpful. 



When a harbor is to be improved the first re- 

 course of the army engineer is to the charts of the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, by means of which the 

 changes which have occurred are studied and on 

 these studies plans for improvement are afterwards 

 formulated. 



The triangulation points established by the Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey are used when available as a 

 basis for the work of the engineers. 



Free interchange of information is made be- 

 tween the two organizations and ibe work of one 

 supplements that of the other. 



In a recent examination by the United States 

 engineers of East River, New York, it became nec- 

 essary to study the tides and tidal currents to de- 

 termine the probable effect of certain proposed 

 works. A careful study made in former years by 

 Professor Henry Mitchell, of the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, furnished much of the information 

 required and checked closely with later observa- 

 tions by the engineers. 



In considering plans for the improvement by the 

 United States engineers of the Hudson River, a 

 study of the tides and currents is of the utmost 

 importance. Scientific research of this kind falls 

 within the duties of both the corps of engineers 

 and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



To the unthinking it might appear that once the 

 coasts had been charted the need of further sur- 

 veys would cease. Such is not the case. The sea is 

 both a builder and destroyer of shores and her 

 labors are unceasing. Maps require constant and 

 periodic revision. 



In yet another way the work of the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey is useful to and is utilized by the 

 corps of engineers and that is in the preparation 

 of projects for national defense. For this purpose 

 the charts of the Coast and Geodetic Survey are at 

 once available. 



The work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and' 



