Abstract
THE American papers contain an announcement which will be received with some astonishment in Europe. A member of Congress, Mr. Herbert, of Alabama, has introduced a Bill into the House prohibiting the Geological Survey of the United States from expending any money for palseontological work, except for the collection, classification, and proper care of fossils and other material; and from composing, compiling, or preparing for publication monographs, bulletins, or other books except an annual report containing merely the transactions of the bureau and other routine official matter. It is further proposed to sell off the laboratories and other property of the Survey which after the passing of the Act would be no longer needed. Of course there may be official or departmental reasons for reorganisation or retrenchment of which the outside world is ignorant. But these reasons must be very serious indeed to justify such action as is proposed. If there is one scientific undertaking of which the United States have pre-eminently just reason to boast as a model to all civilised countries, it is their Geological Survey. For completeness of equipment it has no rival in the world, and already though it has only been seven years in existence its work both for excellence and amount has placed it in the very front of the scientific organisations of the time. Whether we look to its purely scientific achievements or to the importance of its practical work in mining and other economical departments, the crippling of the resources of the Geological Survey of the United States would be a calamity against which not only all lovers of science but all who are interested in the continued development of the natural productions of the great republic would energetically protest. We can hardly suppose that Mr. Herbert will have many supporters, and it is difficult to conceive from what possible motive he is acting. He calculates that if his Bill passes he will effect a saving of 250,000 dollars. He should try to find some branch of the public service where economy and retrenchment could be practised without seriously injuring the scientific credit and industrial progress of his country. And no doubt he could succeed in this search.
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The U.S. Geological Survey . Nature 34, 57 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034057a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034057a0