50 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 102. 



why it should compete with them. The scientific 

 work of the government ought not, therefore, to be 

 such as can be undertaken by individuals. It should 

 also be confined to the increase and systematization 

 of knowledge tending ' to promote the general wel- 

 fare ' of the country. Within these two restrictions 

 there is a large and increasing field, which is only 

 partly occupied by the organizations now under con- 

 sideration. In considering the limits of its func- 

 tions, your committee, as one of scientists and not 

 of constitutional lawyers, naturally confines itself to 

 considerations affecting the general welfare. 



The general government having commenced a gen- 

 eral trigonometrical survey of the United States on 

 a large scale, under organizations much more efficient 

 in their action than those which any single state can 

 provide, we conceive it desirable that the work thus 

 undertaken should be continued at least to the point 

 at which it can be advantageously taken up by the 

 states themselves. At what precise limit the general 

 government should stop, we are not prepared to de- 

 cide, nor is it necessary that this limit should be de- 

 fined at present. The attention of congress should 

 also be directed to the fact that the administration 

 of a scientific bureau or department involves greater 

 difficulties than that of a purely business depart- 

 ment. The connections between the work done and 

 the results ultimately to be attained for the public 

 are not at all obvious to the people and press, and 

 thus the great benefit of vigilant watching and con- 

 stant criticism is wanting. Again: its administra- 

 tion requires a combination of scientific knowledge 

 with administrative ability, which is more difficult 

 to command than either of these qualities separately. 

 These difficulties are intensified by the absence of 

 any central authority to control the work of a gov- 

 ernment scientific organization. Each head of a 

 scientific organization is now practically absolutely 

 independent, and, in his individual judgment of what 

 his organization shall do, is controlled only by con- 

 gress itself, acting only through its annual appropria- 

 tion bills. We conceive that this state of things calls 

 for measures of reform. 



A feature of such reform will be the collection of 

 the organizations now under consideration, together 

 with such other scientific bureaus as congress may 

 see fit to include in the scheme, under one central 

 authority, to be recognized as responsible for, and 

 controlling generally, the scientific operations of the 

 government. Various forms of such an authority 

 might be devised, the choice of which will some day 

 be made by congress. The best form would be, per- 

 haps, the establishment of a ' department of science,' 

 the head of which should be an administrator famil- 

 iar with scientific affairs, but not necessarily an inves- 

 tigator in any special branch. 



Your committee states only the general sentiment 

 and wish of men of science, when it says that its 

 members believe the time is near when the country 

 will demand the institution of a branch of the execu- 

 tive government devoted especially to the direction 

 and control of all the purely scientific work of the 

 government. In this day the pursuit of science itself 



is, visibly to all men of education, directly connected 

 with the promotion of the general welfare. The art 

 of photography, beginning in 1802 with the scientific 

 experiments of Wedgewood, has developed, till, in 

 this country alone, the annual value of photographs 

 produced is estimated at thirty millions of dollars. 

 The study of electricity has resulted in the telegraph, 

 the telephone, the electric light, the electric railway; 

 some of which results count their revenue by mil- 

 lions, and have created already, within a few years 

 of their discovery, properties employing the capital of 

 hundreds of millions. None who have lived with 

 open eyes during the development of these results of 

 purely scientific investigation doubt that the cultiva- 

 tion of science 'promotes the general welfare.' 



Should such a department be now impracticable, 

 should public opinion not be now ready for it, the next 

 best measure, in the opinion of scientific men, would 

 be to transfer all such work or bureaus to some one 

 executive department. Keeping in mind what has 

 been said respecting the two classes of work under 

 the signal-service, we are of opinion that the func-' 

 tions of the several organizations under consideration 

 could now be most advantageously divided among 

 perhaps four bureaus ; namely, — 



1°. The coast and interior survey, to be concerned 

 principally with geodesy and hydrography, and to 

 consist of the present coast and geodetic survey. 



2°. The geological survey, to comprise the present 

 geological survey with its organization unchanged. 



3°. The meteorological bureau, to which should be 

 transferred so much of the present personnel and 

 functions of the chief signal-office as are not neces- 

 sary to the military duties of that office. 



4°. A physical observatory, to investigate the laws 

 of solar and terrestrial radiation, and their applica- 

 tion to meteorology, with such other investigations in 

 exact science as the government might assign to it. 

 In this connection, attention is called to a resolution 

 passed by the recent electrical conference in Phila- 

 delphia, requesting the establishment, by the govern- 

 ment, of a bureau of electrical standards. We are of 

 opinion that the functions of the bureau of weights 

 and measures, now performed by the coast-survey, 

 could be advantageously transferred to the proposed 

 bureau, and extended so as to include electrical 

 measures. 



The members of your committee are conscious that 

 placing these bureaus under one department would 

 not necessarily result in the proper co-ordination of 

 their work, because the head of such department 

 would probably find it impracticable to enter into the 

 consideration of all details necessary to that purpose. 

 It appears to us that the evils already pointed out 

 require, in any case, the organization of a permanent 

 commission to prescribe a general policy for each of 

 these bureaus. The functions of this commission 

 would be : — 



1°. To examine, improve, and approve the plans of 

 work proposed by the several bureaus, and to revise 

 their estimates in accordance with such plan. The 

 performance of this duty would require consultation 

 with their chiefs generally and separately respecting 



