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��tVoL. T., No. 102.
��refer to Uie regents of the Sroitbsoniiui inslltutlon. Those regents are composed of the chief justice, the vice-president, three members of the aeniite, and three members of the house of representative*, and sir citiieus. These regents are appointed as fol-
The regents to be selected shall be «ppc)inted as fol- lows; the members of the eenale, by the president thereof; the members of the house, by the epesker thereof; find the six other persons, by joint resolution of the senate and house of representatives.
This body of regents appoints a secretary of the Smithsonian institution, who is its executive offi- cer. 1/ Euch of the scientific bureaus as should prop- erty have a civil or^aaizatloii were placed under the direction of the regents of the Smithsonian lustitu- tion, perhaps the tiest possible administration of the sdeiitific work of the government would thereby be secured; and the lee.niing and administrative ability of the present secretary of that inslitutiou would tumiah abundant assurance that the organization of these departments under a common head, would, at Its Inception, be thorough and wlae.
The hl.<itDry of the Smithsonian institution, with its governing board constituted as above, is the beat warrant that could be given for a wise administration of the Bcienliflc operntions of the general govern- ment. The first secretary of that institution, Fro- feesor Henry, was one of the great scholars of his time; and, under his administration, the nSairs of the Institution were conducted so as to meet with the approbation alike of the congress of the United Slates, the teamed men of the country, and the peo- ple at large. His successor. Professor liaird, one of the leading scholars of the world, has conducted the operations of the institution as assistant secrretary, and subsequently as secretary, in such a manner that the government of the United States has intrusted to him much larger and wider duties in the administra- tion of the flah-com mission and the national mu- seum. It will thus be seen that the board of regents would constitute an able and efficient supervisory body; and it may always be expected that the execu- tive officer of that board would bo a man thorDughly competent l« execute such a trust.
I next come to the consideration ot the subject as to what'bureauB should be placed undc'r this com- mon organization. Two of the bureaus already men- tioned ore now imder the Smithsonian institution; namely, the fish-commlssiun anil the national mu- seum. The geological survey could be very properly added to the number. Its relations to the national museum are very intimate. All of its collections of rocks, ores, minerals, and fossils, are deposited therein; and il« laboratories for the study of these collections, chemical, physical, and pal eon to logical, are also in the naliooal museum, as they must neces- sarily be connected with the collections. This rela- tion between the geological survey and the national museum Is nut by virtue of organic law, but solely by convention between the secretary of the Smith- sonian institution, and the director of the geological
��survey, and is a special courtesy to the geological sur- vey, extended by the secretary of the Smithsonian institution. In like manner the geological survey has intimate relations with the fish-commission. In that commiRsion it is necessary to employ a corps of biologists. The paleontologists of the geological sur- vey also constitute a corps of biologists. The biolo- gists of Ihe fish-commission study the living forms in the existing bodies of water on and around this continent; the biologists of the geological survey study the fossil forms of the same region, some ot which still exist, others of which have become ei- liuct; and the biologic work of the two departments Is so intimate, that at limes the biologists of the fish- commission perform work for the geologists of the survey, and at other limes the biologists of the sur- vey perform work for the fish -commission aud the national museum. It is very clear, therefore, that the geological survey could appropriately be placed under the same management as the flsh-com mission and the national museum.
The coail and geodetic surrey must first be con- sidered In its relations to certain other departments of scientific work. The committee of the acadetny recommend the establishment of " a physical observ- atory to investigate the laws of solar and terrestrial radiation, and llieir application lo meteorology, with such other investlgntlous in exact science as the gov- ernment might assign t« it." And they also recom- mend that the functions of the bureau of welglits and measures, now performed by the coast-survey, be ex- tended so as to include electrical measures, and that the whole be transferred to the new bureau recom- mended. The coast and geodetic survey already has under Its charge the bureau of weights and meas- ures. It is also engaged in mn^nelic researches, and could appropriately undertake electrical researches, and also the researches relating to solar and terrea- trial radiation. I do not think that it would be best to create a new organixatlon for the purposes thus indicated, but that it would be the part of wisdom to enlarge the functions of the present organization of the coast and geodetic survey to accomplish the desired purpose.
I have already mentioned that the national observa- tory is one of the institutions engaged in original re- search of such a character that it should form one of the co-ordinated bureaus, but it would not be neces- sary to transfer it as an independent bureau. It might properly be consolidated with the coast and geodetic survey. Under such a plan, this survey would have for its functions geodetic investigations, the methods of which are in part astronomical. It would also have the gravity Investigations, and the Inveitigations relating to solar and terrestrial radia- tion, which are also in part astronomical. It would also have the magnetic and electrical investigations. All of these lines of research are intimately related and profoundly interdependent.
I come now to a consideration of the survey of the immediate coast of the Uuited Stntes. The primary purpose of this survey is the construction of charts to be used by mariners, This survey of the coast
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