54 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 102. 



refer to the regents of the Smithsonian institution. 

 These regents are composed of the chief justice, the 

 vice-president, three members of the senate, and 

 three members of the house of representatives, and 

 six citizens. These regents are appointed as fol- 

 lows : — 



The regents to be selected shall be appointed as fol- 

 lows: the members of the senate, by the president 

 thereof; the members of the house, by the speaker 

 thereof; and the six other persons, by joint resolution 

 of the senate and house of representatives. 



This body of regents appoints a secretary of the 

 Smithsonian institution, who is its executive offi- 

 cer. If such of the scientific bureaus as should prop- 

 erly have a civil organization were placed under the 

 direction of the regents of the Smithsonian institu- 

 tion, perhaps the best possible administration of the 

 scientific work of the government would thereby be 

 secured; and the learning and administrative ability 

 of the present secretary of that institution would 

 furnish abundant assurance that the organization of 

 these departments under a common head, would, at 

 its inception, be thorough and wise. 



The history of the Smithsonian institution, with 

 its governing board constituted as above, is the best 

 warrant that could be given for a wise administration 

 of the scientific operations of the general govern- 

 ment. The first secretary of that institution, Pro- 

 fessor Henry, was one of the great scholars of his 

 time; and, under his administration, the affairs of 

 the institution were conducted so as to meet with the 

 approbation alike of the congress of the United 

 States, the learned men of the country, and the peo- 

 ple at large. His successor, Professor Baird, one of 

 the leading scholars of the world, has conducted the 

 operations of the institution as assistant secretary, 

 and subsequently as secretary, in such a manner that 

 the government of the United States has intrusted to 

 him much larger and wider duties in the administra- 

 tion of the fish-commission and the national mu- 

 seum. It will thus be seen that the board of regents 

 would constitute an able and efficient supervisory 

 body; and it may always be expected that the execu- 

 tive officer of that board would be a man thoroughly 

 competent to execute such a trust. 



I next come to the consideration of the subject as 

 to what bureaus should be placed under this com- 

 mon organization. Two of the bureaus already men- 

 tioned are now under the Smithsonian institution; 

 namely, the fish-commission and the national mu- 

 seum. The geological survey could be very properly 

 added to the number. Its relations to the national 

 museum are very intimate. All of its collections 

 of rocks, ores, minerals, and fossils', are deposited 

 therein; and its laboratories for the study of these 

 collections, chemical, physical, and paleontological, 

 are also in the national museum, as they must neces- 

 sarily be connected with the collections. This rela- 

 tion between the geological survey and the national 

 museum is not by virtue of organic law, but solely 

 by convention between the secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian institution, and the director of the geological 



survey, and is a special courtesy to the geological sur- 

 vey, extended by the secretary of the Smithsonian 

 institution. In like manner the geological survey 

 has intimate relations with the fish-commission. In 

 that commission it is necessary to employ a corps of 

 biologists. The paleontologists of the geological sur- 

 vey also constitute a corps of biologists. The biolo- 

 gists of the fish-commission study the living forms 

 in the existing bodies of water on and around this 

 continent; the biologists of the geological survey 

 study the fossil forms of the same region, some of 

 which still exist, others of which have become ex- 

 tinct; and the biologic work of the two departments 

 is so intimate, that at times the biologists of the fish- 

 commission perform work for the geologists of the 

 survey, and at other times the biologists of the sur- 

 vey perform work for the fish-commission and the 

 national museum. It is very clear, therefore, that 

 the geological survey could appropriately be placed 

 under the same management as the fish-commission 

 and the national museum. 



The coast and geodetic survey must first be con- 

 sidered in its relations to certain other departments 

 of scientific work. The committee of the academy 

 recommend the establishment of " a physical observ- 

 atory to investigate the laws of solar and terrestrial 

 radiation, and their application to meteorology, with 

 such other investigations in exact science as the gov- 

 ernment might assign to it." And they also recom- 

 mend that the functions of the bureau of weights and 

 measures, now performed by the coast-survey, be ex- 

 tended so as to include electrical measures, and that 

 the whole be transferred to the new bureau recom- 

 mended. The coast and geodetic survey already has 

 under its charge the bureau of weights and meas- 

 ures. It is also engaged in magnetic researches, and 

 could appropriately undertake electrical researches, 

 and also the researches relating to solar and terres- 

 trial radiation. I do not think that it would be best 

 to create a new organization for the purposes thus 

 indicated, but that it would be the part of wisdom 

 to enlarge the functions of the present organization 

 of the coast and geodetic survey to accomplish the 

 desired purpose. 



I have already mentioned that the national observa- 

 tory is one of the institutions engaged in original re- 

 search of such a character that it should form one of 

 the co-ordinated bureaus, but it would not be neces- 

 sary to transfer it as an independent bureau. It 

 might properly be consolidated with the coast and 

 geodetic survey. Under such a plan, this survey 

 would have for its functions geodetic investigations, 

 the methods of which are in part astronomical. It 

 would also have the gravity investigations, and the 

 investigations relating to solar and terrestrial radia- 

 tion, which are also in part astronomical. It would 

 also have the magnetic and electrical investigations. 

 All of these lines of research are intimately related 

 and profoundly interdependent. 



I come now to a consideration of the survey of the 

 immediate coast of the United States. The primary 

 purpose of this survey is the construction of charts 

 to be used by mariners. This survey of the coast 



