226 Scientific Intelligence. 



the country, the long coast lines on the two oceans, with the 

 very great additions to them of the difficult coasts of Alaska, the 

 Philippine Islands, and our other dependencies, make the magni- 

 tude of the work of the Survey vastly greater than that of 

 any other nation. Alaska alone offers several times more coast 

 line than Great Britain and Ireland combined. 



It is at once surprising and disappointing that the value of 

 what the Survey has accomplished and the still great amount of 

 important work to be done are not more adequately appreciated by 

 those to whom it must look for the funds for its support. Doubt- 

 less many have the impression that work once finished need not be 

 revised, and hence the time may be looked forward to when the 

 labors of the Survey shall be completed. This, however, is very 

 far from being true. The constantly changing conditions in all 

 our harbors and rivers make continual vigilance necessary, while 

 the increase of the draught of the vessels employed in commerce 

 calls for a more minute and exhaustive search for possible perils 

 to navigation. As illustrating this last point, it is interesting to 

 note the results of the "wire-drag method," by which a long- 

 wire, maintained at any desired distance below the surface, is 

 towed over the area to be examined, while a number of attached 

 buoys indicate at once the presence of any obstructions. This 

 work is slow but thorough, and has been carried on extensively 

 in southern waters in winter and in northern waters in summer. 

 By this means, since 1906, it is stated that 3,300 rocks have been 

 located which have less water over them than the charts showed, 

 and some 900 of these have been proved to be distinct menaces to 

 navigation. A long list is given of wrecks in Alaskan waters, 

 disastrous to property and in some cases to life, which might 

 have been prevented if proper surveys had been made. No one 

 will question the remark of the Secretary that " The plan of dis- 

 covering hidden rocks by running vessels on them, still in vogue, 

 does not commend itself as a business proposition, apart from the 

 humanity of the case." But so little has the importance of the 

 work spoken of been appreciated that the appropriations for the 

 current fiscal year were reduced by Congress, making it im- 

 possible, for example, to provide suitable vessels to take the place 

 of the long antiquated ones still in service in Alaska, while the 

 extension of the wire-drag system has necessitated the cutting 

 down of important expenditures in other directions. 



The work of the Survey, however, is not limited to our coasts. 

 What has been thus far accomplished over the land in primary 

 triangulation and in precise leveling, leaves nothing to be desired 

 as to accuracy but is painfully restricted as to amount, in con- 

 sequence of the limited funds available. Primary triangulation, 

 for example, now covers 100 per cent of Great Britain, Italy, and 

 Japan, 83 per cent of Germany, 70 per cent of Austria, 40 per 

 cent of France, 35 per cent of India, but only 12 per cent of the 

 United States, while practically nothing in this line has been 

 done in Alaska. As regards precise leveling, the United States is 



