OUR GUARDIANS ON THE DEEP 



677 



the bay the rise is 55 feet above sea- 

 level. At spring tides the water in the 

 Bay of Fundy is 19 feet higher than in 

 the Bay of Verte, only 15 miles distant. 



The mechanical division of the Sur- 

 vey is a wonderful place to visit, as may 

 be inferred from the fact that it can 

 make theodolites so accurate that in the 

 triangulation between the Maryland and 

 Georgia base-lines the discrepancy was 

 less than half an inch in 30 miles, and 

 that it can make precise levels so accu- 

 rate that the maximum error is an inch 

 to 500 miles. In addition to the marvel- 

 ous tide-predicting machine, it has a cir- 

 cular dividing engine with which it con- 

 structs the scales on the graduated cir- 

 cles. This engine has a spindle 4 inches 

 in diameter, tapering three-quarters of 

 an inch to the foot. This spindle must 

 fit into its bearing so nicely that it has 

 less than 1/10,000 of an inch play. Be- 

 fore the dividing engine can be set to 



work the room must have been subjected 

 to a uniform heat for several days, in 

 order that every part of the walls may 

 be uniformly warm, so as to prevent air- 

 currents from interfering with the ac- 

 curacy of the work. The room is kept 

 at blood heat, so that the presence of the 

 supervisors of the engine's operations do 

 not interfere with its accuracy. 



The Coast and Geodetic Survey was 

 founded in 1807 under President Jeffer- 

 son, and was then known as the Coast 

 Survey. Its greatest work dates from 

 1878, when it was broadened to its pres- 

 ent scope. Today it employs 700 men, 

 and has become one of the Federal gov- 

 ernment's most important bureaus, serv- 

 ing well the practical needs of every-day 

 life, and at the same time pioneering in 

 paths of science in a way that has added 

 and is adding to the fund of human 

 knowledge on the subjects with which its 

 investigations deal. 



HONORS TO COLONEL GOETHALS 



The Presentation, by President Woodrow Wilson, of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society Special Gold Medal, and Addresses by Secretary 

 of State Bryan, the French Ambassador, the German 

 Ambassador, and Congressman James R. Mann 



THE ninth annual banquet of the 

 National Geographic Society was 

 held at the New Willard Hotel, 

 Washington, D. C, on the evening of 

 March 3, 19 14, and was made the occa- 

 sion of the Society's formal recognition 

 of the eminent services of Col. George W. 

 Goethals, U. S. A., to geography and to 

 the world as the builder of the Panama 

 Canal. 



Among the members of the Society and 

 guests present, numbering more than 800, 

 were the President of the United States, 

 with a majority of the members of his 

 Cabinet — Secretary of State Bryan, Sec- 

 retary of the Interior Lane, Secretary of 

 the Treasury McAdoo, Secretary of Agri- 

 culture Houston, Secretary of the Navy 

 Daniels, Secretary of War Garrison, Sec- 

 retary of Labor Wilson ; members of the 

 Supreme Court, Senators and Representa- 

 tives from nearly every State, diplomatic 



representatives of every great foreign na- 

 tion, officers of the Army and Navy, and 

 men and women prominent in the world 

 of science and letters. 



The tables were arranged in the form 

 of a huge gridiron and the banquet hall 

 beautifully decorated with flowers and 

 flags. Behind the speakers' table, high 

 overhead, there was a great blaze of elec- 

 tric lights spelling the union of the oceans 

 and the completion of the canal in the 

 words 



Atlantic — Goethals — Pacific 



The tributes which were paid to the 

 guest of honor by the speakers of the 

 evening were enthusiastically received 

 by the vast audience. Colonel Goethals 

 was accorded an honor which has been 

 achieved by few men — the distinction of 

 receiving at the hands of the President 

 of the United States a gold medal in 



