DOCTOR FREER AND THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE. XVI 
tions in chemistry and biology. And so on to the end of the 
chapter. 
I early decided to make a determined effort to centralize the 
laboratory work of the Insular Government under the control 
of one man, to the end that unnecessary and wasteful dupli- 
cation of staff and equipment might be avoided and that maxi- 
mum efficiency might be attained at minimum cost. With these 
ends in view, I drafted, and on July 1, 1901, secured the pas- 
sage of “An Act providing for the establishment of Government 
Laboratories for the Philippine Islands.” The passage of this 
Act laid a reasonably broad foundation, but did nothing more. 
It was necessary to plan and construct a modern laboratory 
building which should afford adequate facilities to meet the 
then existing, and probably future, needs of the Government; to 
list, buy, house, and properly catalogue a fairly complete scien- 
tific library; to purchase and install costly and complicated 
scientific apparatus; to provide seasonably a formidable array 
of expendable reagents and supplies; and most important of 
all, to secure the services of a large staff of well-trained scien- 
tists, capable not only of performing necessary routine examina- 
tions with unfailing accuracy, but also of grappling with some 
of the many scientific problems whose early solution was then 
imperatively needed. To the end that the best possible results 
should be obtained, it was necessary that the work of the 
members of the staff should be codrdinated and directed by a 
master mind. 
It was obvious that the man who could undertake such a task 
with hope of success must combine an unusually broad knowl- 
edge of the different branches of laboratory work with a wide 
acquaintance among scientific investigators, familiarity with 
cost and sources of supply of books, apparatus, and reagents, 
sound business judgment, good administrative ability, and hard . 
common sense. 
I chose for this important and difficult position Dr. Paul 
Caspar Freer, then professor of inorganic chemistry in the 
University of Michigan, and never was man more fortunate in 
his choice. 
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