428 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IV., No. 92. 



the board. While it has thus far apparently 

 been composed of men of the best character 

 and of high scientific attainments, there is no 

 certainty, possibly but little probability, that 

 the same standard can be maintained in the 

 future. Any renewal of appropriations, or in- 

 crease of powers, would be likely to make the 

 board attractive to the place hunter. 



Coming at this time, the St. Louis confer- 

 ence has an unusual significance. This volun- 

 tary assembly of representatives of the only 

 public bodies possessing any real power to deal 

 with epidemic disease, or questions of public 

 health, might veiy easily be transformed into 

 a national organization, certain to control, with- 

 in the above limits, public opinion. Let the 

 central authority be composed of delegates 

 selected by state boards of health, when such 

 boards exist ; when there are none, by the 

 governors of the respective states. Such a 

 body may be convened at any time, in case of 

 need : ordinarily, one or two sessions annually 

 would be sufficient. An executive committee 

 of moderate size, with permanent officers at 

 Washington, could attend to such routine work 

 as congress might see fit to intrust the board 

 with. It is not advisable to burden a board 

 of health with great patronage or much ex- 

 ecutive power. It should be largely devoted 

 to scientific investigation of epidemic disease. 

 These must, of necessity, be conducted on a 

 scale so extensive that no private laboratory, 

 public institution, or state board of health, 

 has been or will be able to undertake them. 

 The fact that the members of this association 

 would be also members of powerful state organ- 

 izations, would secure the co-operation of the 

 various states, and would legitimately control, 

 in a high degree, congressional action, and, as 

 a board of consultation, would, when applied 

 to, speak with an influence that no department 

 at Washington could afford to neglect. 



are also officers of the government. Our read- 

 ers may remember, that, when the organization 

 of the surveys was reported upon by the acad- 

 emy some years ago, a very strong protest 

 against its conclusions was made by the chief 

 of engineers, in which one of the strongest 

 points was, that the men who conducted such 

 surveys were not represented upon the commit- 

 tee which made the report. When a question 

 very similar was submitted to the academy last 

 summer, in order to elicit a report upon the 

 coast and geological surveys, the signal-office, 

 and the hydrographic office, the policy was 

 adopted of putting an officer of the army, and 

 one of the navy, upon the committee. When 

 this fact became known to the heads of the 

 departments, they decided that no officer of 

 the government should take a place which 

 might require him to report upon the policy of 

 his chief; and both members, therefore, with- 

 drew from the committee. 



The secretaries of war and of the navy have 

 indirectly raised what may prove a trouble- 

 some question respecting the duties of mem- 

 bers of the National academy of sciences, who 



Without discussing the application of this 

 principle in the present case, we hope it will 

 in the future be so limited and defined as not 

 to cripple the academy in cases where it might 

 happen that there are no experts available 

 except those who are officially connected with 

 the government. During a state of war the 

 most important questions submitted to the 

 academy would probably pertain to instruments 

 and appliances to be used in warfare, and it 

 would clearly be impossible to omit from its 

 committees the very men who knew most about 

 the subject-matter submitted. The academy 

 is, we believe, the only government organiza- 

 tion now existing, or which ever has existed, 

 the members of which were required to give 

 their services to the government without 

 charge whenever called upon. As such, the 

 body would seem entitled to a large measure 

 of consideration on the part of the government, 

 which will be increased when we call to mind 

 the value and importance of its reports. No 

 amount of labor and research has been spared 

 in cases when methods of defrauding the rev- 

 enue by the chemical manipulation of products 

 had to be looked into. The efficiency which 



