December 10, 1886.] 



SCIEl^CE. 



547 



those of an army officer, who has all he wants to 

 do, who does not covet any of his neighbors' work 

 or goods, and who does not care to have any 

 more masters than those whom he is at present 

 trying to serve. You see that I give you some of 

 the data for the formula by which you are to cor- 

 rect my statements, but this is all I can do. 



I am not incUned at present to urge the creation 

 of a department of science as an independent de- 

 partment of the government having at its head a 

 cabinet officer. Whether such an organization 

 may become expedient in the future seems to me 

 doubtful ; but at all events I think the time has 

 not yet come for it. 



I do not believe that government should under- 

 take scientidc work merely or mainly because it 

 is scientific, or because some useful results may 

 possibly be obtained from it. It should do, or 

 cause to be done, such scientific work as is need- 

 ful for its own information and guidance when 

 such work cannot be done, or cannot be done so 

 cheaply or conveniently by private enterprise. 

 Some kinds of work it can best have done by pri- 

 vate contract, and not by officials ; others, by its 

 own officers. To this last class belong those 

 branches of scientific investigation, or the means 

 for promoting them, which require long-continued 

 labor and expenditure on a uniform plan ; such as 

 the work of the government observatory, of the gov- 

 ernment surveys, of the collection of the statistics 

 which are so much needed for legislative guidance, 

 and in which we are at present so deficient, the 

 formation of museums and libraries, and so forth. 



Considering the plans and operations of these 

 government institutions from the point of view of 

 the scientific public, it is highly desirable that they 

 should contribute to the advancement of abstract 

 science, as well as to the special practical ends for 

 which they have been instituted ; but from the 

 point of view of the legislator, who has the re- 

 sponsibility of granting the funds for their sup- 

 port, the practical results should receive the chief 

 consideration, and therefore they should be the 

 chief consideration on the part of those who are to 

 administer these trusts. It must be borne in mind 

 that while the average legislator is, in many 

 cases, not qualified to judge a priori as to what 

 practical results may be expected from a given 

 plan for scientific work, he is, nevertheless, the 

 court which is to decide the question according to 

 the best evidence which he can get, or, rather, 

 which is brought before him, and it is no unim- 

 portant part of the duty of those who are experts 

 in these matters to furnish such evidence. 



But in saying that practical results should be 

 the chief consideration of the government and of 

 its legislative and administrative agents it is not 



meant that these should [be the only considera- 

 tions. In the carrying out of any extensive piece 

 of work which involves the collection of data, ex- 

 perimental inquiry, or the application of scientific 

 results under new conditions, there is more or less 

 opportunity to increase knowledge at the same 

 time and with comparatively little increased cost. 

 Such opportunity should be taken advantage of, 

 and is also a proper subsidiary reason for adopt- 

 ing one plan of work in preference to another, or 

 for selecting for appointment persons qualified 

 not only to do the particular work which is the 

 main object, but also for other allied work of a 

 more purely scientific character. 



On the same principle it seems to me proper 

 and expedient that when permanent government 

 employees have at times not enough to do in their 

 own departments, and can be usefully employed 

 in scientific work, it is quite legitimate and proper 

 to thus make use of them. For example, it is de- 

 sirable that this country should have such an or- 

 ganization of its army and navy as will permit of 

 rapid expansion when the necessity arises, and 

 this requires that more officers shall be educated 

 and kept in the service than are needed for mili- 

 tary and naval duty in time of peace. It has 

 been the policy of the government to employ 

 some of these officers in work connected with 

 other departments, and especially in work which 

 requires such special training, scientific or ad- 

 ministrative, or both, as such officers possess. To 

 this objections are raised, which may be summed 

 up as follows : — 



First, that [such officers ought not to be given 

 positions which would otherwise be filled by civil- 

 ian scientists, because these places are more needed 

 by the civilians as a means of earning subsistence, 

 and because it tends to increase the competition 

 for places and to lower salaries. But in other 

 words, the argument is that it is injurious to the 

 interests of scientific men, taken as a body, that 

 the government should employ in investigations 

 or work requiring special knowledge and skill 

 men who have been educated and ti'ained at its 

 expense, and who are i^ermanently employed and 

 paid by it. This is analogous to the trades union 

 and the anti-convict labor platforms. 



The second objection is that army and navy offi- 

 cers do not, as a rule, possess the scientific and 

 technical knowledge to properly perform duties 

 lying outside of the sphere of the work for which 

 they have been educated, and that they employ as 

 subordinates really skilled scientific men. who 

 make the plans and do most of the work, but do 

 not receive proper credit for it. The reply to this 

 is that it is a question of fact in each particular 

 case, and that if the officer is able to select and 



