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��congreaa to determine which department Bhall exer' cise this necessary piUtliority ond control.

The coRSI-survey waa origioally organized for the purpose of constructing maps and charts of the coast and harbors for the benefit of commerce and navi- gation. Conflicting opinions respecting the proper management of the survey led to the formation, in 1343, of a board of ofBcers with the duty of re-orga- iiialng the survey. Thisboard submitted apian which was eiiacted_ by congrens into law, upon and under which law the survey has hltlierto been eiecuted. This plan provided for the co-operation of uiilltary officers, naval officera, and civilians in the various parts of the work. Under It the work of ibe coast- survey has been continued to the present time.

In recent times a great extension of the field of operations of the survey has been made, apparently looking to a triangalation covering the entire terri- tory of the United States. The maps pulilished annually with the report of the survey enable us to know the geodetic work it has eiecuted. It appears, from the maps accompanying the report of 18S2, that on June 30 of that year a chain of triangles llad been extended throughout the entire length of Ilie Atlantic and Qulf coasts, and throughout about half the Faclllc coast. Besides these coast-lines, exten- sive regions in the interior are seen to be triangu- lated. In the north-east, the triangulation covers the greater part of the states of New Hatnpshlre, Ver- mont, and Massachusetts, about half of Connecticut, and it also includes a considerable part of the state of New York.

The reconnolssance haH extended westward from the New-Jersey coast, so as to include the greater part of the state of New Jersey, and a long ptrlp in Pennsylvania. Prom Pennsylvania, the extended line of primary triangulation follows the AJl^heny Mountains Into northern Alabama, and is now being continued across the country to Memphis.

A triangulation of the MiBsissippi River was ex- tended from Its mouth nearly to Memphis, where it would meet the last- described chain of triangles. Tlie chMn connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coast* has been completed nearly across the state of Nevatla, and the recnnnoisssDce includes nearly half of Utah Territory. The line la also surveyed at various points in Colorado. Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. Besides all this, isolated regions in Wisconsin, Indiana, Illi- nois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, have been reconnoitred by the coast and geodetic survey, in a way indicative of a plan designed nltimately to cover the entire territory. As its appropriations for some years past have made provision for the collection of data fur a general map of the United States, we may fairly regard the coajt and geodetic survey as having undertaken a trigonometric survey of the whole United Sutes.

From the statement of the director of the geolo- gical survey, we learn, that, under authority of the annual appropriation bills to prepare a geological map of the United States, that officer has parties engaged In the trigonometric survey of the entire country, which is to be sufficiently accurate for car-

��tographic purposes. It appears, therefore, that two distinct and independent trigonometric surveys of the United Slates, under two different departments of the government, are now in process of execution.

The meteorological work of the signal-aerviee is divisible into two distinct branches. The first and by far the larger portion of the work is the collec- tion of weather reports from stations in different parts of the union, which are utilized in predicting the probable weather during the twenty-four hours succeeding. Connected with this work is the pub- lication of weather maps, showing at a glance the stale of the weather over the entire country at cer- tain momenis of absolute time. At the school at Fort Myer, observers and operators are trained tor this service. A very important part of Its work is the display of signals, and warnings of approaching storms, frosts, and floods.

The other branch of the meteorological service appears in scientlfle discussions and investigations haying for their object the advance of the science of meteorology. These researches are published under the title, ' Professional papers of the signal-service,' which papers consist of memoirs separately paged^ and numbered in the order of their issue. Your committee is not Informed of the separate expeoMS of these two divisions of the signal-service, but tiu no doubt that the expense of the second branch Is but a small fraction of that of the first.

The signal -service also performs a military duty, providing the material, and instructing soldiers and officers to communicate between separate bodies of troops by a system of day and night signals; and it also operates and repairs, and when necessary con- structs, telegraph-lines for military purposes. The appropriation for these military works and services for the current year Is five thousand dollars. In the opinion of the committee, it is desirable that the meteorological work of the weather bureau should be under the general control of the commission proposed later In this paper.

The hydrographic office of the navy department may be considered to date from the year 1&48, when the depot for charts and instruments for the navy, authorized by an act approved in IM2, was estab- lished. Under this act an observatory was estab- lished, and was engaged in the double work of making astronomical observations, correcting chroiiometeri, and of supplying charts to the navy; the establish- ment being officially styled ' the U. S. naval observa- tory and hydrographic offlce.' In 1863 congress authorined the establishment of a separate hydro- graphic ofUce, to be attached to the bureau of navi- gation in the navy department, for the purpose of supplying nautical publications and Information, not only to vessels of llie United Stales, but to navigators generally. Before that time the functions of the office had been confined to the purchase and distribu- tion of foreign charts. Under the new organization, a drawing and engraving division was established, wblcti constructs charts of foreign coasts and seas tor distribution te vessels of the navy, and for sale, at the coat of printing and paper, to navigators genee-

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