September 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



281 



United States the desirability of further legislation 

 looking to the early adoption of the metric system. 



Upon the subject of electrical standards 

 the committee presented the following report 

 which was adopted : 



In view of the absence of any properly constructed 

 and authenticated standards of electrical measure- 

 ment prepared under the law of 1894, this committee 

 recommends that it be authorized to construct such 

 standards, and to pay in part the necessary expenses 

 incident to this work, that the sum of $50 be placed 

 at the disposal of the committee from current fundg 

 of the Association in possession of the treasurer ; it 

 being understood that any standards thus constructed 

 or material so acquired shall remain the property of 

 the A. A. A. S., until otherwise disposed of by 

 the Council. 



A communication from the Joint Com- 

 mission of the Scientific Societies of Wash- 

 ington regarding the creation of the ofl&ce 

 of Director- in- Chief of the scientific divisions 

 of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture was referred to a committee which 

 later presented the following report, adopted 

 unanimously : 



Your Committee has carefully considered the com- 

 munication from the Joint Commission referred to, 

 and has consulted sundry other papers sent on from 

 "Washington by persons interested in the movement 

 in question. That there has been in Washington a 

 movement towards the creation of such an office is 

 probably familiar to all the members of the Council. 

 The Committee is informed that a circular letter from 

 the Secretary of Agriculture has been sent to many 

 of the members of the Council, and an editorial in 

 Science has probably familiarized others with the 

 matter. The Department of Agriculture has further 

 been in correspondence with many scientific organiza- 

 tions in the country which could be regularly reached, 

 and all have expressed themselves as favoring the plan- 

 In brief, the plan is the outgrowth of the unsatis" 

 factory condition of affairs which has existed in the 

 Department of Agriculture for some years, in fact 

 since the great development of its scientific work 

 which has taken place within the last decade. The 

 officer having immediate supervision of the scientific 

 divisions is the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. 

 This office is filled by Presidential appointment for a 

 term of four years, and it has been found by experi- 

 ence that it takes the person appointed to fill this 

 office about one year to familiarize himself with the 

 details of the work, and that no sooner does he be- 



come thoroughly acquainted with the conditions than 

 his term of office expires and a new man is appointed. 

 Further, there is no certainty that the appointee to 

 to fill the office of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture 

 will in every case be a man of broad scientific opin- 

 ions and able to satisfactorily supervise the work of 

 the scientific divisions. 



The great necessity for the existence of an officer of 

 broad attainments, whose term of office would not be 

 limited, and who could act in an advisory and con- 

 trolling manner, becomes at once apparent. There 

 are at present in the Department two large Bureaus, 

 namely. The Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Ani- 

 mal Industry, and eight divisions engaged in purely 

 scientific work. Of the two thousand men employed 

 in the Agricultural Department, nine hundred and 

 ninety-three are engaged chiefiy in scientific and 

 technical work. And of the $2,400,000 appropriated 

 annually, $1,700,000 is appropriated for work of this 



In view of the evident desirability of legislation in 

 the direction indicated, an amendment to the appro- 

 priation bill was introduced in the United States 

 Senate, May 13, 1896, and was referred to the Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture and Forestry. It received a 

 favorable report from the Committee, but no action 

 was taken by the Senate on account of the approach- 

 ing close of the session. It is hoped that favorable 

 action may be reached during the next session of Con- 

 gress, and to this end it is proposed to submit to 

 Congress the opinions of prominent individuals and 

 scientific organizations. The proposition has been 

 warmly approved by the following persons and or- 

 ganizations: President Gilmanand the Scientific Fac- 

 ulty of Johns Hopkins University. President Dwight 

 and the Scientific Faculty of Yale. Seventeen mem- 

 bers of the Scientific Faculty of the University of 

 Michigan. President Elliott and Prof. Shaler, of 

 Harvard. Presidents Schurman, of Cornell; Low, of 

 Columbia ; Warren, of Boston ; Walker, of the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology; Hall, of Clark; 

 Canfield, of Ohio; MacLean, of Nebraska; Chaplin, of 

 Washington (St. Louis), and many other heads of 

 colleges, directors of agricultural experiment stations, 

 members of scientific faculties, various academies of 

 science and scientific societies, the Joint Commission 

 of the Scientific Societies of Washington, Mr. Theo- 

 dore Eoosevelt, and other gentlemen identified with 

 the cause of Civil Service Keform. 



In view, therefore, of the obvious good to the cause 

 of science which will result from this proposed legis- 

 lation, and in view of the practically unanimous en- 

 dorsement which it has received from prominent edu- 

 cators and men of science throughout the country, 

 and in further view of the fact, which is none the less 



