Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/62

 SCIENCE.

��[Vol. v., No. 109.

��wh; it should ciimpete with Ihem. The scienUlic work of the piTeniment ought not, therefore, to be such AS can be undertaken by Sii<ilviduals. It should also bo cooSiicil to the Increase bhiI lys tern ati nation of knowledge tending ' to promole the general wet- fare' of the country. Within these two restrictions there Is a targe and increaeiiig Held, which Is ont; partly occupied by ihe orgwii est ions now under con- sideration. In considering the llmiU of its func- tions, your comniiiiee, as one of sclentisla and not of const! lutional lawyers, naturally conHnes itself to considerations aftectiiig the general welfare.

The geneml government hating comuienced a gen- eral trigonometrical surrey of the United Slates on a large scale, under organizations much more efficient In Iheir action than those which any single stale can provide, wo conceive It desirable that the work thus undertaken should be continued at least to the point St which It can be advantageonsty talien up by the states themselves. At what precise limit the general government should stop, we are not prepared to de- cide, nor la it oeeefLsary that this limit should be de- fined at present. The attention of congress should also be directed to the fad that the admin Is Iration of a scientific bureau or department Involves greater difficulties than that of a purely business depart- ment. The connectiona lietween the work done and the results ultimately to be attained tor the public are nut at ail obvious to Ibe people and press, and thus the great benefit of vigilant watching and con- stant criticism Is wanting. Again: lis administra- tliiu requires a combination of. scientific knowledge with administrative ability, which Is more difficult to comroand than either ot these qualities separately- The^e difficulties an Inlensiflcd by the absence of any central authority to control the work of a gov- ernment sclentide organixaiion. Each head of a ■cientiBc orgnnisatiou is now pracllcally absotnlely f ndi'pendeot, and, in his Individual judgment of what Ills 'irganltatlou shall do, la controlled ouly by con- gress Itself, acting only tlirouglt Its annual appropria- tion bills. We conceive that this stale of things calls for measures of reform.

A feature of such reform will be the collection of the organizations now under consideration, together with such other scienliSc bureaus as congress may see At to Include In the scheme, under one central authority, to be recognized as responsible for, and controlling generally, the scientific operations of the government. Various forms of such on authority might be devised, the choice of which will some day be mode by congress. The best form would be, per- haps, the cstabliabment of a 'deparlinent of science,' Qie head of which should be an administrator famil- iar with scieDtiflcafFnlrs. but not necessarily on Inves- tigator In any special branch.

Tour committee states only the general puntimeut and wish of men of science, when it says that its meml>ers believe Ihe lime is near when the country will demand the institution of a branch of the execu- tive government devoted especially to Ute direction and control of alt Ihe purely scientific work of the government. In this day the pursuit of science il£clf

��is, visibly to all men of education, directly connected with the promotion of the general welfare. The art of photography, beginning In 1602 with the sclentlHa e^iperimcntg of Wedgewood, has developed, till, in this country alone, the annual value of photographs produced Is estimated at tbirty millions of dollars. The study of electi^clty has resulted Ln the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, the electric railway; some of which results count their revenue by mil- lions, and have created already, within a few years of ihelrdlscovery, properties employing the capital of hundreds of millions. None who have lived with open eyes during the development of these results of purely scientific Investigation doubt that the cultivk- tion of science ' promotes the general welfare.'

Should Kuch a department be now impracticable, should public opinion not be now ready for it, the next beiit measure, in the opinion of scientific men, would be to transfer ail such work or bureaus to some one executive departm«nt. Keeping Ju mind what has been said respecting the two classes of work under the sign Bt-ser%' ice. we are of opinion that the func- tions of Ihe several o^anizations under consideration could now be most advantageously divided among perhaps four bureaus; namely, —

I". The coast and interior survey, to be concerned principally with geodesy and hydrography, and to consist of the present coast and geodetic survey.

2°. The geological surrey, to comprise the present geological survey with its orgauixatlon unchanged.

3°. The meteorological bureau, to which nlinuld be transfen-ed m much ot the present peraoimel and functions of the cliief sigual-offlco as are not uecea- snry to the military duties of that office.

4°. A physical observatory, to investigate the law* of solar and terrestrial radiation, and their applica- tion to meteorology, with such other Investigations in exact science aa the government might assign to It. In this connection, attention is called to a resolution passed by the recent electrical conference In Phila- delphia, requesting the establishment, by the goveni- ment, of a bureau of electrical standards. We arc of opinion that the functions of the bureau of weights and measures, now performed by the coast-survey, could be advantageously transferred to the proposed bureau, and extended so as to Include electrical

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��The members of your committee are conscious that placing these bureaus under one department would not necessarily result In the proper co-orilltiatloa of I their work, because the head of such department J would probably find It Impracticable to enter into the consideration of all details necessary to that purpose. It appears to us that the evils already pointed out require, in any case, the organization of a permanent commisaion to prescribe a gejieral policy for each oC these bureaus. The fuuctlons of this commission would be: —

1*'. To examine, improve, and approve the plans of work prop<>sed by the several bureaus, and to revise tlie! r estimates in accordance with such plan. The performance of this duty would require consultation with their chiefs generally and separately respecting

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