< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

845

counting-room. In order that the results of the survey may be accurate and trustworthy—the only results which are worth having—costly instruments must be bought and used, and must afterward be thrown aside, because other instruments are better, or because their work is done. Still larger outlays are requisite, in order that elaborate and important fundamental inquiries may be prosecuted by men who are trained to exact scientific methods. A staff of learned and experienced investigators is absolutely essential to the conduct of such a national undertaking as the Coast Survey. Nevertheless, all this scientific research is appreciated by a very small number of persons. Indeed, the more valuable it is, the less obvious may be its merits. Every seaman knows the value of a good chart: not every seaman, not every scholar, not every statesman, knows the conditions by which a good chart is produced. It is only the expert who appreciates the subtile sources of error which must be eliminated: he only knows the infinitude of mathematical, physical, astronomical, and geodetic problems, which are involved in an endeavor to portray faithfully such a coast-line as that of the United States, and to keep the portrayal in accurate correspondence with the changing sands.

There is undoubted weight in the consideration here urged that much of the work of the Coast Survey is of a kind that can be but imperfectly judged by the public, and must be left to the men of science, who can best appreciate its desirableness and its difficulties. This is also the ground taken by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in reviewing the subject. At their recent meeting in Ann Arbor, Professor S. P. Langley proposed the following series of resolutions, which, after discussion, were passed unanimously:

Whereas, The attention of this Association has been called to articles in the public press purporting to give, and presumably by authority, an official report of a commission appointed by the Treasury Department to investigate the condition of the United States Coast-Survey Office, in which report the value of certain scientific work is designated as meager; and

Whereas, This Association desires to express a hope that the decision as to the utility of such scientific work may be referred to scientific men:

Resolved, That the American Association for the Advancement of Science is in earnest sympathy with the Government in its every intent to secure the greatest possible efficiency of the public service.

Resolved, That the value of the scientific work performed in the various departments of the Government can be best judged by scientific men.

Resolved, That this Association desires to express its earnest approval of the extent and high character of the work performed by the United States Coast Survey, especially as illustrated by the gravity determinations now in progress, and to express the hope that such valuable work may not be interrupted.

Resolved, That this Association expresses also the hope that the Government will not allow any technical rule to be established that shall necessarily confine its scientific work to its own employés.

Resolved, That in the opinion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science the head of the Coast Survey should have the highest possible standing among scientific men, and should command their entire confidence.

Resolved, That copies of these resolutions shall be prepared by the General Secretary and certified to by the President of the Association and by the Permanent Secretary, and shall be forwarded to the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, and given to the press.

The subject was called up and acted upon because of the recent arraignment of the Coast Survey, as stated in the first preamble. In the second the hope is expressed that the decision in regard to the utility of such work—that is, Coast Survey work—may be left to scientific men. But it will be observed that the second resolution covers wider ground, affirming that all "the scientific work performed in the various departments of the Government can be best judged by scientific men."

Now, certainly, nothing can be more true than that scientists are the best judges of scientific work; and, as between these and the officials that are over them, the case may be stated still more emphatically. The successful pol-

    This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.