October 24, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



227 



features, but also acquainted with the electrical people of Kew 

 York, with its factories, its places of business, and its methods of 

 business ? These men would become available in a day, and could 

 be at once set to work in carrying out the details of a vast and 

 complicated system. Their work need not be confined to that 

 purely electrical in character, because every electrical engineer is 

 by training and of necessity a mechanician, and every sort of 

 apparatus would be readily understood by him, and a very slight 

 training would make him master of it. 



Those members volunteering for naval work would be equally 

 useful. The ordnance officer at the Navy Yard would constantly 

 find himself overwhelmed with a mass of work which he would 

 be utterly unable to carry out without the assistance of some such 

 corps as this. And for the reason that electrical engineers are of 

 necessity mechanicians, a great deal of technical work could be 

 intrusted to them, such as the arrangement and fitting of gun- 

 carriages, the storage of ammunition, the assembling of guns, etc. 

 Their more immediate and obvious field, however, would be in 

 the installation and fitting of electric lights, motors, telegraphs, 

 telephones, and other electrical appliances, on board the vessels of 

 war constantly called into requisition. In the matter of fitting- 

 out merchant steamships their usefulness would be at once ap- 

 parent. The number of regular officers would be found utterly 

 out of proportion to the number of ships, and the whole navy 

 would undergo an expansion. Only a very few regular officers 

 could be assigned to each vessel; so that the majority of the officers 

 would have to be volunteers, as was the case in our civil war. 

 During the first part of the war', the command of the different 

 vessels would naturally be intrusted to regular officers, leaving 

 the other positions to be filled by volunteers. Now, as the com- 

 mander ot a ship is head of all the departments of a ship, he can- 

 not give much personal attention to one especial department. 

 Therefore the general arrangement and fitting-out of all vessels, 

 both regular war-ships and merchant steamships, would have to 

 be largely intrusted (o volunteers in all that relates to the electric 

 and ordnance equipments. Now, as the work of fitting out ships 

 with electric and ordnance equipments calls for technical knowl- 

 edge and experience of a high character, it is obvious that a corps 

 of well-trained technical men, such as is here suggested, would be 

 more than useful: it would be necessary. 



A further field for the employment of such a corps in time of 

 war is suggested by the fact that the genius of our people tends 

 towards constant invention and improvement of all sorts of ma- 

 chinery and apparatus ; and our history has shown that every war 

 has brought into being many inventions in weapons ot defence 

 and offence. Can it be doubted, then, that any future war would 

 produce more such inventions ? And in view of the great progress 

 of electrical science since the last war, and considering the great 

 number of electricians in New York, can it be doubted that many 

 of these inventions would be electrical in character? Under the 

 stimulus of a national peril, and with the resources of New York 

 at command, it is certain that important and novel warlike appli- 

 cations of electricity would at once spring into being. And while 

 our regular forces of both army and navy were employed on their 

 specific duties, what more natural than that some new Ericsson 

 should arise, and some new Monitor or other craft startle tlie 

 nations of the world ? Therefore, besides the obvious uses to 

 which such a corps as this might be placed, there are other uses, 

 no less important, of inventing, constructing, and using weapons 

 of defence, the nature of which we cannot as yet even faintly 

 conceive. And as few heroes of our late war go down to history 

 with more glory than has Ericsson, so perhaps our next war may 

 produce some electrician, now unknown, whose fame will outlive 

 the ages. 



It would seem as if such a corps as this could be formed under 

 existing laws, and that there would be no difficulty in enlisting 

 members. The attractions ot the Naval Reserve and of the National 

 Guard seem sufficient to induce a large membership in the differ- 

 ent regiments; and there is no reason why membership in an elec- 

 tric regiment should not be equally desirable and confer equal dis- 

 tinction. The qualifications for entrance as regards education and 

 intelligence would be greater than those for any other regiment or 

 battalion. Its military and naval usefulness would be acknowl- 



edged, and its position in all respects would be one of dignity. The 

 larger the membership, the better; provided, of course, that due 

 care be observed in excluding undesirable persons. The whole 

 electrical influence of New York and of the country would be at 

 its back, with all its millions of dollars, and its men of world-wide 

 fame; and there is no reason why it should not acquire a national 

 influence. 



The course of instruction could be readily carried out, embracing 

 the naval and military applications of the purely technical science 

 with which the members are already familiar, instruction being 

 given by regular navy and army officers detailed for the purpose. 

 This instruction would naturally embrace the construction and 

 care of apparatus. It being presupposed that there are different 

 ranks in this corps, the system of instruction will naturally differ 

 with the different ranks. With the higher ranks, it would natu- 

 rally embrace the theory and practice of gunnery, navigation, in- 

 cluding compasses, and seamanship. Steam-engineering would 

 probably not need to be taught, it being assumed that the members 

 require very little instruction in that branch. For the lower ranks, 

 the scheme of instruction need not include much more than the 

 handling and care of the different apparatus. On the outbreak 

 of war, the members volunteering for the different services could 

 be subjected to certain examinations, and their rank determined 

 by the proficiency exhibited. As to the details of organization, 

 uniform, etc., these need not be entered into here, as they can ob- 

 viously be settled at any futui'e time. My only purpose now is to 

 propose to you a plan for meeting an emergency which may some 

 day arise. 



I would hazard the suggestion that this corps should at fii-st com- 

 pi'ise about two hundred and fifty members, and that it should be 

 officered, uniformed, and drilled as are the other corps of the 

 National Guard. I would even advocate infantry drill as a means 

 of instilling thoroughly the military idea. Occasional runs in the 

 torpedo-boat "Gushing," and frequent trips out to sea for target 

 practice in some of the modern war-ships, would be essential; and 

 while there would be considerable work, there would also be many 

 compensating social and other advantages. 



I venture all these suggestions with much diffidence, but ear- 

 nestly hope that you will think them worthy of earnest considera- 

 tion. My only excuse for broaching the general plan is that it 

 has been in my mind for some years, that it has been commended 

 by every man to whom I have spoken about it, and that I have 

 been urged to bring it to the attention of the electricians of New 

 York. 



THE RELATIONS OF MEN OF SCIENCE TO THE" 

 GENERAL PUBLIC." 



Just fifty years have passed since a small body of enthu- 

 siastic students of geology and natural history organized 

 themselves into an association which was, for the first time 

 in the history of this country, not local in its membership 

 or in its purpose. As the Association of American Geolo- 

 gists and Naturalists, it was intended to include any and all 

 persons, from any and all parts of the country, who were 

 actively engaged in the promotion of natural-history studies., 

 and who were willing to re-enforce and strengthen each 

 other by this union. So gratifying was the success of this 

 undertaking, that, after a few years of increasing prosperity 

 under its first name, the association wisely determined to 

 widen the field of its operations by resolving itself into the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, thus- 

 assuming to be in title what it had really been in fact from- 

 the beginning of its existence. One of the articles of its first 

 constitution, adopted at its first meeting, provided that it 

 should be the duty of its president to present an address at a 

 general session following that over which he presided. The, 



^ Address delivered at the IndlaDapolls meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion, August, 1890, by its retiring president, Professor T. C. Mendenhall. 



