INSTRUMENTS. 19 
in stock and are supplied upon requisition, letter, or telegram, so that 
there is never any delay in furnishing- field parties with necessary 
instruments. 
Each year every instrument used is carefully overhauled. On return- 
ing- from the field the users of instruments tag them, make notes of their 
condition, and call attention to needed repairs. The instruments are 
examined by the custodian, who is thus able to determine their proba- 
ble condition, especially any peculiar defects noted by the user, and 
he then arranges for the repairs. These are made either by the manu- 
facturers, who are able to take a number of instruments in hand at 
one time, or by the Survey mechanician, who attends to the minor but 
equally necessary repairs-. 
Standard types, of instruments are used wherever applicable, but for 
most of the work the best instruments are of specially designed forms 
adapted to the requirements. Among the latter are theodolites, plane- 
table movements, and telescopic and sight alidades. 
The topographic records are also in the custody of this section. The 
field methods in use at the time of the organization of the Survey con- 
sisted entirely of the taking of notes, so that the records were all in 
book form, and for some } r ears there was no necessity for an elaborate 
system of filing. As the work progressed, however, and the plane 
table was brought into use as the principal instrument for mapping, 
the results assumed different shape. This necessitated a systematic 
method of filing, and a double entry card -catalogue system was adopted. 
The plane-table sheets and the books are numbered and filed in cases 
by themselves. Other miscellaneous material connected with the sur- 
vey of individual areas is filed in special envelopes, each envelope con- 
taining the material for a particular area. The records now comprise 
over 18,000 pieces, and the catalogue necessary for them consists of 
about 40,000 cards. 
Messenger, Watch, and Labor Force. 
In this force are included a steam engineer, firemen, a carpenter, 
elevator conductors, janitors, watchmen, messengers, laborers, and 
charwomen, all of whom are under the direction of the chief clerk, 
either immediately or through a watchman in charge. 
DIVISION OF DISBURSEMENTS AND ACCOUNTS. 
That portion of the Geological Survey which has supervision of the 
finances is known as the division of disbursements and accounts. This 
division was, necessarily, one of the first to be organized after the 
Survey was established in 1879. It has always been in charge of a 
chief disbursing clerk, who at the present time has 13 assistants. 
This division prepares the annual estimates of the amounts which 
the Director judges the Survey will need during the next fiscal year, 
