January 16, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



55 



proper is nearly completed, and should be finished 

 by the present organization. When thus finished, 

 the work of the coast-survey on land will be practi- 

 cally ended, but the hydrographic operations must be 

 permanently continued. In this hydrographic work 

 a large corps of naval officers and seamen are em- 

 ployed under the coast-survey ; and the navy is also 

 engaged, under the organization of the hydrographic 

 bureau, in conducting researches of like and related 

 character off the coast. It is evident that this hydro- 

 graphic work prosecuted by the coast and geodetic 

 survey is pre-eminently a naval work, from the fact 

 that officers and seamen of the navy are employed in 

 its prosecution. The officers of the navy are neces- 

 sarily, and should be, the geographers of the sea. 

 Statesmen agree, that, even in time of peace, a naval 

 establishment must be maintained. A school is sup- 

 ported by the general government for the education 

 and training of officers to command its navies. This 

 training should be continued by practical operations 

 at sea, not by engaging in unnecessary war, but in 

 the navigation of the seas and the management of 

 vessels; and, while thus engaged, the navy may be 

 appropriately and economically employed in the study 

 of oceanic geography. I am therefore clearly of the 

 opinion that the hydrographic work of the coast and 

 geodetic survey should be transferred to the hydro- 

 graphic bureau of the navy. As thus organized, it 

 would necessarily have a military administration, and 

 could not properly be placed with the other scientific 

 bureaus enumerated above under one common man- 

 agement. There would yet necessarily be relations 

 existing between the bureau of navigation and the 

 other scientific bureaus ; but they would be of a much 

 less fundamental character, and would be limited in 

 scope, and the few relations thus existing could be 

 properly adjusted by convention. 



If the signal-service is to have a military organiza- 

 tion, it would be unwise to directly associate it with 

 bureaus with civil organizations, for reasons already 

 stated. Should it be deemed wise to include it in the 

 group of scientific institutions, it should then be re- 

 organized on a civil basis. 



The various lines of research enumerated in char- 

 acterizing the scientific bureaus above are such as 

 properly pertain to the functions of government in 

 the common judgment of mankind. The warrant 

 for this statement exists in the fact that the leading 

 civilized governments of the world do, in fact, pro- 

 vide for the prosecution of such operations. The 

 subject of the endowment of such research by govern- 

 ment has been widely discussed by statesmen and 

 by scholars in America and in Europe alike ; and the 

 wisdom of such endowment, and the fundamental 

 principles that should control such work, have been 

 again and again clearly enunciated. The actual prac- 

 tice of the several governments engaged in this work 

 is to a large extent harmonious, but in some impor- 

 tant particulars there is diversity of methods. In 

 the British government a part of the scientific re- 

 search is controlled by organizations in the executive 

 departments: another part is controlled by scientific 

 societies organized under royal charters, and receiv- 



ing grants of money from the general government. 

 In the G-erman states various methods are adopted, 

 one of the most important of which is that the uni- 

 versities receive grants from the general government 

 for scientific research. This latter method largely 

 prevails in Russia; but in all of these countries the 

 methods adopted in the United States are steadily 

 gaining ground, and the practice of European govern- 

 ments is steadily following the precedents established 

 in the United States. 



The questions submitted by act of congress to the 

 deliberation of this commission affect profoundly all 

 of the important industries of the land. You are to 

 decide for the people the best methods of utilizing the 

 results of all scientific research, as they pertain to the 

 welfare of the people of the United States; and your 

 action, should it be confirmed by congress, will ulti- 

 mately affect the deepest interests of all the people ; 

 and the influence of your action will be exercised 

 in promoting or retarding scientific research itself, 

 which is the chief agency of civilization, and the 

 results of which constitute the chief elements of 

 civilization. 



THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHI- 

 CAL RESEARCH. 



At a meeting held in Boston, Jan. 8, the organiza- 

 tion of the society was completed. The conduct of 

 the affairs of the society is by the constitution placed 

 in the hands of a council of twenty-one, which con- 

 sists of Prof. G. Stanley Hall of Baltimore ; Mr. 

 George S. Fullerton of Philadelphia ; Dr. William 

 James, Prof. E. C. Pickering, Prof. J. M. Peirce, of 

 Cambridge; Mr. Coleman Sellars of Philadelphia; 

 Major A. A. Woodhull of New York; Professor Simon 

 Newcomb of Washington; Drs. C. S. Minot and H. P. 

 Bowditch, and Messrs. W. H. Pickering and C. C. 

 Jackson, of Boston ; Col. T. W. Higginson and Mr. N. 

 D. C. Hodges, of Cambridge ; Prof. George F. Barker 

 of Philadelphia ; Mr. S. H. Scudder and Prof. C. C. 

 Everett, of Cambridge ; Mr. Morefield Storey of Bos- 

 ton; Professor John Trowbridge of Cambridge; Mr. 

 William Watson of Boston; and Professor Alpheus 

 Hyatt of Cambridge. Professor Newcomb has been 

 chosen by the council as president of the society, and 

 Profs. Hal, Fullerton, E. C. Pickering and Drs. 

 Bowditch and Minot, as vice-presidents ; Mr. Watson, 

 treasurer; and Mr. N. D. C. Hodges, secretary. 



After the organization was completed, Professor 

 Pickering, who was in the chair, referred briefly to 

 the work of the committee on organization, which 

 has had the matter in charge since last fall, and said 

 that the details of organization would bear a small 

 part in the work of the society; that there was now 

 need of co-operation among all members in order that 

 there might be some fruitful investigations carried on. 

 He urged all members to look about among their 

 friends for suitable subjects; Professor Pickering's 

 opinion being that it would be much safer and more 

 satisfactory to experiment on people of good stand- 

 ing, who might exhibit powers of mind-reading, or 



