558 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VL, No. 151. 



its arrangement, in the satisfactory manner in 

 which physical phenomena are described and 

 explained, and' in its general accuracy. Their 

 ' Elementary geography * is equally well adapted 

 to infantile minds. The illustrations of both 

 editions are well selected, and are beautifully 

 executed. The maps are modern, and are well 

 adapted to the purposes of instruction. On 

 the whole, the orography — the element with 

 with which map-makers have the most difficulty 

 — is fairly, and in some regions excellently, ex- 

 pressed. The registering of the colors on the maps 

 can be very much improved. 



— Dr. Daniel G. Brinton of Philadelphia has 

 been announced as laureate of the Societe ameri- 

 caine de France for 1885, and has been awarded 

 the medal of the society for his works on the 

 aboriginal languages and mythology of America. 



— At about 10.12 p.m. on Dec. 10, a sharp shock 

 of earthquake was felt in Victoria, B.C. It re- 

 sembled the rapid roll of a heavily laden truck 

 along a paved street. The vibration lasted from 

 ten to fifteen seconds. At New Westminster the 

 shock was felt at precisely the same time, but 

 lasted about forty seconds. 



— An atlas of Japan, in seven sheets, is an- 

 nounced by Justus Perthes. Each sheet will be 

 on a scale of i : 1,000,000, and the atlas will be 

 accompanied by a sketch-map on a scale of 1 : 

 7,500,000. Four of the sheets have akeady ap- 

 peared, and the others will be issued during the 

 commg year. 



— The new balloon constructed by the Meudon 

 aeronauts will be directed, says Nature, by a 

 steam-engine, as advocated by M. Henry Giffard. 

 Electricity will be quite given up, owing to its 

 want of power for continuous action. From the 

 reports to be published in the next number of the 

 Comptes rendiis, it appears that a velocity of six 

 metres per second was obtained. 



— Mr. Gaurel, at whose sole expense the late 

 expedition to the Kara Sea, under Lieutenant 

 Hovgaard, was undertaken, intends, provided his 

 enterprise be seconded by the government, to send 

 his steamer Dymphna next summer on an expedi- 

 tion, under an officer of the Danish royal navy, to 

 the east coast of Greenland to explore and lay 

 down the coast-line between 66°. 08, the farthest 

 northward point attained by Captain Holm's 

 expedition, and 70°. 



— On examination of the extensive series of 

 stellar photographs obtained at the Harvard col- 

 lege observatory, it appears that on Nov. 7, 1885, 

 a photograph was taken of the region in which 

 the new star is now visible. The star does not 



appear upon this photograph, which shows that 

 at that time it must have been at least half a 

 magnitude fainter than at present. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 What has the coast survey done for science ? 



The contributions of the coast survey to general 

 scientific knowledge in America maj'^ be said to begin 

 with the year 1844, when Prof. Alexander Dallas 

 Bache succeeded to the superintendency, on the death 

 of Mr. Hassler, in December, 1843. 



Mr. Hassler had given all the active energies of his 

 life to a successful inauguration of a work of which 

 few but himself realized the extent, or had any idea 

 of what was implied in a ' survey of the coast of the 

 United States ; ' and he came from Europe to this 

 country at the beginning of the present century, 

 when our country was still barely recognized among 

 nations, and its few and ablest men were too much 

 engaged in meeting and solving the practical problems 

 of existence for the nation generally, and for them- 

 selves individually. 



The number of men at that time who had made 

 their mark as original investigators and thinkers in 

 the different branches of astronomy, chemistry, 

 mathematics, and physics, were so few that they 

 might be counted upon the fingers. A few of the 

 associates of the illustrious Franklin, among them 

 Eittenhouse, Ellicott, and some others of the Amer- 

 ican philosophical society of Philadelphia, were joined 

 by others from abroad — men like Priestly and 

 Gallatin — in correspondence with men of like pur- 

 suits in England, France, and Germany, and were 

 slowly and quietly laying the foundation for the 

 building-up of a spirit of scholarship and physical 

 inquiry, which rapidly developed after peace came 

 finally to the country, in 1845, producing such men 

 as Bowditch, Nicollet, and many others. 



Mr. Hassler came to this country accredited as a 

 man of learning and ability by the French academy. 

 Being a native of Switzerland, he became intimate 

 with his countryman, the eminent statesman Albert 

 Gallatin, who was at that time secretary of the 

 treasury under President Jefferson. The President 

 had himself been given greatly to philosophic studies, 

 and had, while resident in France, been the companion 

 and friend of many of the most eminent men of 

 science in that country. 



It was through Mr. Gallatin's active and powerful 

 aid that the idea originated by Mr. Hassler, of a great 

 general ' survey of the coast of the United States,^ 

 was brought to Mr. Jefferson's notice, and his power- 

 ful aid secured in obtaining the passage of the act of 

 February, 1807, which is still the legal basis of its 

 existence. 



Obstacles of various sorts arose in the way of 

 carrying the act into execution. Chief among them 

 was the war of 1812-15 and its consequent debt, 

 crippling the means of the nation. Started in 1816, 

 it was shortly after transferred to the navy, where 

 it languished until, in 1834, it was re- transferred to 

 the treasury department, where it has ever since 

 remained. 



The principle of organization adopted (and still 

 adhered to, so far as practicable) was carried forward 

 by Mr. Hassler under many difficulties, which were 

 brought to the notice of congress, and resulted in the 

 reference of the whole subject to a committee of 



