December 25, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



559 



investigation, of which the late Hon. Caleb Gushing 

 was one of the principal members. The result was 

 "legislation creating a mixed board, from the coast 

 surrey, army, and navy, which adopted the plan of 

 re-organization," in 1843. This, on approval of 

 President John Tyler, had the force of law, and 

 under it the survey has been conducted. The follow- 

 ing extract from the report of the superintendent 

 for the year 1849 describes the practical working of 

 the system : — 



" The re- organization of the coast survey, under 

 legislative authority," in 1843, embodied all the ex- 

 perience obtained up to that date, both of trials 

 which had succeeded, and of others which had failed : 

 it confirmed and gave the force of law to the 

 union in our corps, which has gradually sfrown up, of 

 civilians, officers of the army, and officers of the 

 navy, serving under a neutral department, under 

 which alone they could be united ; namely, that hav- 

 ing control of matters relating to couimerce and 

 navigation. It is easy to see, that, without a perma- 

 nent (civil) nucleus for such a work, the objects and 

 aims must be wavering and unsteady, the methods 

 wanting in uniformity from year to year and from 

 party to party, and the results heterogeneous in kind 

 and in form. Confusion and waste would result 

 from such an organization, and the survey would in 

 time be abandoned. The scientific parts of such a 

 work require diligent study and devotion to mathe- 

 matical and physical science, to grasp them in their 

 various bearings ; and it is not too much to say. 

 that, unless such a work came up to the demands of 

 science and the scientific men of the country, it could 

 not long stand. That the theoretical knowledge 

 acquired at the military academy should be reduced 

 to practice in the survey by those officers of the army 

 who have an inclination to similar pursuits, to its 

 advantage as well as their own, will readily be seen ; 

 and, up to the point where details would interfere 

 with the duties of the arm to which the officer be- 

 longs, congress has conferred upon the work a right 

 to seek his services. The war department judges 

 whether they can be properly granted or not. 



"The law of 1843 very properly Hmited the ser- 

 vices of the officers of the navy to "the hydrographic 

 parts of the work, — the portions which have a pro- 

 fessional bearing, and towards which the inclination 

 of a nautical man may turn with professional pride. 

 Experience has fully shown the advantages of 

 this organization in general. The tendency result- 

 ing from the variable elements (the army and navy) 

 is nevertheless, at times, to lessen the results pro- 

 duced by the necessity for turning aside from actual 

 work to give instruction, and from the loss of the expe- 

 rience acquired at the expense of the survey by the 

 removal of officers — caused, no doubt, by the exigen- 

 cies of their proper service, and yet reacting severely 

 upon the survey. The experience and knowledge of 

 Humphreys, Johnston, and Prince, of the army, and 

 of Davis, Patterson, and Porter, of the navy, cannot 

 readily be replaced : a detail may be filled, but the 

 knowledge immediately available is not supplied." 



Mr. Hassler died in December, 1843, just as this 

 system went into operation. He had never realized 

 the enormous advance which the country had made 

 in every department of industry and learning in the 

 thirty- six years which had gone by since the passage 

 of the law of 1807. To his mind we had then to 

 look abroad not only for all appliances for scientific 

 research, but also for the men to use them. The late 



Mr. Thomas McDonnell, so long in the coast survey, 

 informed me, that, so late as 1836 and 1837, he was 

 the only man in Mr. Hassler's party who haljitually 

 spoke the English language. But in that period Bow- 

 ditch had risen to the zenith of his reputation ; men 

 like Peirce, Henry, Bache, Walker, Morse, and many 

 others, had come forward, and placed American 

 science upon the enduring basis which has ever since 

 been maintained and extended. 



From among these eminent men, Professor Bache 

 was selected, by almost unanimous consent of the 

 learning of the country, to succeed Mr, Hassler at 

 the head of a work then recognized as the greatest, 

 as it was almost the only, scientific work of the 

 country. The pressure upon President Tyler for his 

 appointment was so great that he was obliged to yield 

 to it, although he was opposed by the then secretary 

 of the treasury, Hon. John C. Spencer, who preferred 

 another person, but who soon recognized the remark- 

 able fitness for his position shown by the new super- 

 intendent, and in less than six months became his 

 firm friend and supporter. 



From this time forward the work of the coast sur- 

 vey was rapidly extended ; its increased usefulness 

 was recognized by congress by steadily increasing 

 appropriations, as the work was extended to all parts 

 of the coast. Between 1844 and 1849, or in the short 

 period of five years, the extent of the coast line of 

 the United States was doubled by the addition of 

 Texas, and the Pacific coast from San Diego to Van- 

 couver. But such was the elasticity of the wise 

 method of organization formulated in 1843, that the 

 work expanded to meet the calls upon it, and survey- 

 ing parties were upon the shores of Texas in 1847, 

 and in California in 1849. The history of the work 

 from that time forward, and during and since the 

 civil war,' has been one of which every man con- 

 nected with it has reason to be proud. It has been 

 foremost in every matter connected with the interests 

 it has had in charge. It has won the approbation, 

 freely and officially expressed, of every enlightened 

 government of the civilized world. 



In 1872, for the first time, its work was extended 

 to the interior, and it was recognized by lav/ as the 

 * coast and geodetic survey.' Other scientific works 

 have been authorized, and some of them have ap- 

 peared to come in conflict with the duties assigned 

 to it, and seeming to belong to it. With these 

 it has sought or shown no conflict, but has freely 

 rendered to them every possible aid in its power. 

 This is not the place to discuss or further allude 

 to these points. The historical resume here given, 

 of the early inception and progress of the work 

 under its most renowned chief, has been necessary 

 to a proper understanding of the matters now to be 

 brought forward in answer to the question asked me, 

 ' What has the coast survey done for science ? ' to 

 which I now attempt a reply. 



Longitude. 



In 1844 the difference of longitude between any 

 point in Europe and any point on this continent was 

 uncertain. Then, as now, the meridian of the Eoyal 

 astronomical observatory at Greenwich, England, 

 was the reference-point from which longitude was 

 reckoned by English-speaking nations. 



One of the first matters taken up by Professor 

 Bache was to obtain a correct difference of longitude 

 between Greenwich and some central point in the 

 United States connected with the survey of the coast. 



