122 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 132. 



he has initiated, and those bad traditional 

 forms which are hkel}^ to grow up in any public 

 office unless the most vigilant watch is kept. 

 If the record of the superintendent is good, 

 — and we believe that it is, up to the time of 

 a great domestic sorrow, and the subsequent 

 incursions of disease, — the judgment of the 

 government and of the public should be verj^ 

 different from that w^hich would be due to a 

 dishonest, incapable, or dissipated man. We 

 siucerel}^ believe, that, when all the facts are 

 brought out, our judgment will prove to be 

 correct, and that the bad administration at- 

 tributed to the superintendent will not be 

 without extenuating considerations. The 

 honors which have been won by the coast- 

 surve}^ abroad and at home, for thoroughness, 

 under arduous and complicated circumstances, 

 are honors which liave been won by those who 

 have administered its affairs. 



While awaiting further information, there are 

 some known facts, and some known principles, 

 which it is worth while to bear in mind, par- 

 ticularl}^ as tliere is alwa^'s a multitude read}' 

 to raise a hue and cvy if any determined 

 opponent leads off in throwing out suspicions. 



Without the slightest disposition to screen 

 official mismanagement, if it has been dis- 

 covered, we must caution our readers against 

 giving credence to insinuations and rumors. 

 All who are under implied censure haA'e a 

 right to be fully heard, and to bring all the 

 facts which are explanator}' of their conduct 

 to the eye of a qualified tribunal. The}' have 

 a right to protest against the arbitrary exer- 

 cise of personal authority, or against the 

 judicial methods of a star-chamber or a drum- 

 head court-martial. No political purpose, no 

 personal dislike, no disbelief in science, should 

 be allowed, unquestioned, to throw discredit 

 upon a branch of the public service, or dis- 

 honor upon a corps hitherto regarded as ex- 

 emplary in all its official work. 



The work of the coast-survey, during its 

 long history, has been of the highest character. 

 For nearly seventy years it has been approved 

 by successive congresses and administrations, 

 and by navigators, merchants, and men of 



exact science. It has received the highest 

 encomiums of foreigners who were qualified to 

 judge of its merits, and were interested in 

 pointing out its defects. The five superintend- 

 ents — Hassler, Bache, Benjamin Pierce, Pat- 

 terson, and Hilgard — have each, in different 

 ways, improved its methods, and upheld its 

 efficiency. The officers just displaced have 

 grown up in the service, and have won promo- 

 tion by the ability and fidelity with which they 

 have discharged their great responsibilities. 

 The presumptions of official rectitude are in 

 their favor until positive faults are pointed 

 out. They are entitled by the principles of 

 good government, as well as by their individual 

 services, to all the opportunities they may 

 desire for explanation or defence ; and any 

 premature opinion is unfair, especially if it is 

 affected by personal prejudices, or is based 

 upon a lack of appreciation for scientific re- 

 searches. 



In the conduct of such a bureau as the coast- 

 survey, a large amount of discretion must be 

 left to the chief. He, and he only, can deter- 

 mine a vast number of questions which pertain 

 to the selection of assistants for different kinds 

 of work, the choice of fields of labor, the dis- 

 crimination between services which have an 

 obvious relation to some immediate want of 

 the public, and those which may be just as 

 serviceable, but are recondite, and unintelhgible 

 to the uninformed. It is impossible to mark 

 out the duties of the highest assistants by 

 such rules as may be applied to the clerical 

 services of an ordinary counting-room. In 

 order that the results of the survey may be 

 accurate and trustworthy, — the only results 

 which are worth having, — costly instruments 

 must be bought and used, and must afterwards 

 be thrown aside, because other instruments 

 are better, or because their work is done. 

 Still larger outlays are requisite, in order that 

 elaborate and important fundamental inquiries 

 may be prosecuted by men who are trained to 

 exact scientific methods. A staff of learned 

 and experienced investigators is absolutely 

 essential to the conduct of such a national 

 undertaking as the coast-survey. 



