November 3, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



591 



especially that learning which is acquired by 

 research and original investigation. Of two 

 thousand leading scientific men mentioned in 

 " American Men of Science," by Professor 

 Cattell, two hundred and twenty, or eleven 

 per cent., reside in Washington, a percentage 

 exceeded only in the states of Massachusetts 

 and New York. President Jordan, of Stan- 

 ford University, himself formerly engaged by 

 the United States for scientific work, in an 

 article on the establishment of a national 

 university, says : " The scholars and investi- 

 gators now maintained at Washington exert 

 an influence far beyond that of their oflBcial 

 position." A very large body of university- 

 trained men in Washington are devoting 

 themselves to study and experimentation, en- 

 deavoring to gain concrete knowledge that 

 may be applied to the development of the 

 country's resources. A writer in Tlie Outlook 

 of July 24, 1909, upon the subject, " Patriots 

 in the Public Service," paid a graceful and 

 well deserved tribute to the ability and 

 patriotic devotion of the scientists who 

 labor in the federal service. " There is no 

 class of men," he says, " who contribute so 

 directly and on so large a scale to the welfare, 

 progress and wealth of the whole people as do 

 the scientists of the federal government. This 

 is due to their exceptional ability, to their 

 esprit de corps, the watchword of which is dis- 

 interested service, and to the position of 

 vantage and influence which their official 

 status gives them." 



Governmental activity along lines of ap- 

 plied science has reached huge proportions. 

 Thousands of scientists, scores of laboratories 

 and an annual expenditure of a hundred mil- 

 lion dollars but inadequately express the mag- 

 nitude of governmental enterprise in this 

 direction. The current appropriations for the 

 Department of Agriculture alone are over 

 twenty millions of dollars, and investigation 

 is going on in every field where systematized 

 knowledge can aid in the conservation of re- 

 sources, in the multiplication of products, or 

 in the solution of economic problems of the 

 rural community. 



Some of the activities of bureaus of the 



Department of Agriculture are indicated in 



the following :* 



Weather Bureau : meteorology. 



Bureau of Animal Industry: pathology, zoology, 



biochemistry. 

 Bureau of Plant Industry: plant physiology and 



pathology, pomology, horticulture. 

 Forest Service: dendrology, silviculture, utilization 



of wood products. 

 Bureau of Chemistry: investigations and analyses 



of fertilizers, agricultural products, foods, 



drugs, etc. 

 Bureau of Soils: analytic, fertility and soil-water 



investigations. 

 Bureau of Entomology. 

 Bureau of Biological Survey. 



Office of Experiment Stations : nutrition, irriga- 

 tion and drainage investigations. 

 Office of Public Eoads: chemistry, petrography, 



scientific road construction. 



Among the bureaus and offices of other de- 

 partments engaging in work of a scientific or 

 technical character are:' 

 Treasury Department: 



Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, 

 with its Hygienic Laboratory: medicine and 

 surgery, chemistry, pharmacology, zoology, 

 sanitation. 



Supervising Architect's Office: employing archi- 

 tects, civil engineers, etc. 



Bureau of the Mint: coining and assaying, in- 

 volving chemistry, metallurgy, etc. 

 Navy Department: 



Naval Observatory: astronomy and mathematics. 



Hydrographic Office: hydrography and cartog- 

 raphy. 

 Interior Department: 



Geological Survey: geology, paleontology, chem- 

 istry. 



Bureau of Mines: physics, chemistry, mining, 

 metallurgy. 



Patent Office: investigations in almost every 

 branch of applied science. 



Eeclamation Service: civil engineering. 



Government Hospital for the Insane: mental 



^ This abridged reference to bureaus and offices 

 and their activities is merely suggestive and is 

 not intended to be a complete or detailed enumera- 

 tion of all bureaus and offices doing scientific or 

 technical work, of their functions or of the sci- 

 ences involved. 



