SEPTEMBER 17, 1897. ] 
done in the interior. Thirty land and ten 
parties operating on the sea were on duty 
during the year. The results of the labors 
of the land parties were as follows : 
The new topographical survey of the shores of 
Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts, finished. 
San Francisco Harbor and Bay, nearly finished. 
The Los Angeles base line in California, connected 
with the existing triangulation and a scheme de- 
veloped by means of which a grand scheme of trigo- 
nometrical figures may be carried northward. This 
base, although measured years ago, had never been 
adequately transferred to the triangulation. 
The chronometric determination of the longitude of 
Unalaska and Kadiak Islands, on the Aleutian Pe- 
ninsula, Alaska. 
The determination of the magnetic elements (decli- 
nation, dip, and horizontal intensity ) in nine Western 
States, principally in California, Montana, North and 
South Dakota and Nebraska. 
Precise levelling in Kansas and Mississippi. 
Trigonometrical work in Maryland and Delaware, 
completing the last direct ‘triangulation on the 
Transcontinental Are from Cape May to San Fran. 
cisco. 
Measure of a base at Salt Lake City with the new 
Duplex base apparatus. 
Topography on Long Island. 
Base measures in Kansas. 
Triangulation at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. 
Topography and triangulation at the mouth of the 
Patapsco River, and on the Chester River, Maryland. 
Reconnoissance in Nebraska. 
Telegraphic longitude in Massachusetts, New York, 
Washington and Canada. 
Hydrography, topography and triangulation of 
Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. 
Traverse line across the Peninsula of Flerida from 
Fernandina to Cedar Keys to connect the Gulf and 
Atlantic Coast triangulation. 
Continuation and completion of the oblique arc 
along the Appalachian Chain from Maine to Mobile. 
New survey of the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea. 
Connection of longitude station at Montreal with 
primary triangulation in New England. 
Other unimportant operations were also 
carried on, the above being a general sum- 
mary of the greater divisions of the work. 
The work of the parties operating from 
vessels was : 
Hydrographic work on the New England coast and 
on the Chesapeake Bay. 
SCIENCE. 
437 
Special surveys on the outer bar at Brunswick, 
Georgia, and Long Island Sound. 
Examination of Savannah River Entrance and the 
mouth of Elizabeth River. 
Survey of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana , and 
Brazos River, Texas. 
General Hydrographic work in Alaska and in San 
Francisco Bay. 
Special work has also been done in laying 
out speed trial courses for testing the battle- 
ships and torpedo boats of the navy ; 
soundings for new positions of light ves- 
sels, current observations, etc., etc. 
As will be seen, the greatest activity in 
the land parties has been displayed in 
the fields of Topography, Triangulation 
and Magnetism. The original scheme of 
primary telegraphic longitudes has now 
been completed and the definitive values of 
the standard longitudes of the United States 
have been deduced. 
The principal work of the sea parties has 
been on the coast of New England, in. 
Alaska and in San Francisco Bay. 
The operations during the fiscal year just 
closed have been productive of important 
results from both commercial and strategic 
standpoints. The completion of the survey 
of Buzzard’s Bay, the beginning of the 
work near Baltimore and the rapid progress 
made at San Francisco are all in the inter- 
est of national defense, while the accurate 
determination of the longitude of Unalaska 
and Kadiak Islands furnishes a check to 
the reckoning of all vessels bound from 
Sitka to the mouth of the Yukon. The 
new speed trial courses are valuable auxil- 
iaries to the navy, and examinations for 
new positions of light vessels are necessary 
alike to the naval and merchant marine. 
The aid given to the Seal Fishery Com- 
missioners in the way of transportation, 
ete., to the Guadaloupe Islands, and the co- 
operation with the engineer department of 
the army on the Brazos River, Texas, must 
be reckoned as not the least important in- 
cidents of the work from a commercial and- 
