SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 



1884. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



Several questions of importance, affecting 

 the scientific work of the government, will 

 come before congress during the session just 

 opened. First among these will be the organ- 

 ization of the two great surveys and of the 

 signal-service. Our readers have already been 

 informed through this journal, as well as through 

 the newspapers, that the question of the man- 

 agement of these bureaus was referred to a 

 congressional commission, composed of three 

 senators and three representatives, who are re- 

 quired by law to report their conclusions, by 

 bill or otherwise, on or before the third Monda}' 

 in December. This commission invoked the 

 aid of the National academy of sciences, and 

 a report from a committee of this body is 

 already- in the hands of the commission. The 

 conclusions of this report have not been 

 authoritatively made public ; but, according to 

 a newspaper account, it recommends nothing 

 more radical than the concentration of the 

 bureaus in question under a single department 

 of the government, and the appointment of a 

 commission to control the policy both of the 

 coast and geological surveys. 



It was naturally expected that the commis- 

 sion would itself enter upon a thorough and 

 minute investigation of the subject, — a view 

 which was strengthened by the fact that a 

 meeting was called for Nov. 11 ; but, up to 

 the present time, there are no indications that 

 the commission is going to enter upon airy very 

 serious labors. Only one week will remain 

 to it when these lines reach our readers, and 

 we have not been able to learn that it has done 

 any thing but postpone its meetings. In this 

 it only reflects the natural tendenc}' of the 

 congres.s whose term is about to expire. A 

 short session is, under any circumstances, im- 



Xo. 96. —1884. 



favorable for new legislation, and the house 

 would naturally be inclined to await the views 

 of the incoming administration before adopt- 

 ing any measures which might hamper it. We 

 must also remember that it is much easier to 

 stop a bill than to pass it, and that we can 

 hardly expect a measure to be devised which 

 will command the unanimous approval of all 

 concerned. The establishment of a bureau of 

 electrical standards, as proposed b}- the elec- 

 trical congress at Philadelphia, must take its 

 chances with the measures for re-organization 

 of the surve}'s. There is no likelihood of an 

 independent measure for such a bureau being 

 successful. 



Other matters which ma3' be expected to 

 arise are international in character ; namely, 

 the legalization of the conclusions of the Paris 

 electrical conference and of our own meridian 

 conference. In both these matters we can 

 only hope that congress will make haste ver}- 

 slowly. There is no apparent pressing reason 

 for speedy action on either subject, since both 

 might very well take care of themselves with- 

 out legislation ; and there is a chance of much 

 harm being done by too hastily adopting con- 

 clusions which may soon be found to need 

 revision. The standard of light of the Paris 

 conference has not been shown to be realizable 

 in practice, and the accurac}' of its ohm is 

 already being called in question. In the case 

 of the meridian conference, so far as its con- 

 clusions define the counting of longitudes from 

 Greenwich, they merely authorize our universal 

 practice, and there is hardly more need of our 

 legislating upon the subject than there is of 

 enacting that people shall eat their dinners. 

 If its universal day is found convenient, it will 

 come into use of itself; if not, congress ought 

 not to legalize it. Altogether, we do not see 

 much prospect of very good measures being- 

 devised between now and the 4th of March : 

 and we may as well, therefore, reconcile our- 



