Perforated by seven bullet holes. Killed in Wyoming
Territory.
]
[Illustration:
SKULL OF AN INDIAN,
Showing nine distinct sabre wounds.
]
[Illustration:
SKULL OF A MAN
Who received an arrow wound on the head, three gun-shot flesh
wounds, one in the arm, another in the breast, and a third in the
leg. Seven days afterwards he was admitted to the hospital at Fort
Concho, Texas [where he subsequently died], after having traveled
above 160 miles on the barren plains—mostly on foot.
]
[Illustration:
SKULL OF A SOLDIER
Wounded at Spotsylvania—showing the splitting of a Rifle ball, one
portion being buried deep in the brain, and the other between the
scalp and the skull. He lived twenty-three days.
]
[Illustration:
APACHE INDIAN ARROW-HEAD
Of soft hoop-iron. These arrows will perforate a bone without
causing the slightest fracture, where a rifle or musket ball will
flatten; and will make a cut as clean as the finest surgical
instrument.
]
CURIOSITIES
FROM THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON.
Two specimens in this collection deny the assertion that “when a man
breaks his neck that is the last of him.” One of these is a skull taken
from the Catacombs in Paris. It has a few vertebræ attached to the neck.
One of these shows a distinct dislocation where it was broken from the
head, and where it had grown closely together again. The other is a home
specimen, which shows no less distinctly where the broken neck again
formed the connection with the head. There is also in this section of
the museum a piece of human cranium, about the size of a silver dollar,
cut from the head of a soldier wounded at Petersburgh, Va., June 14,
1864. The following is the official history of this “interesting case:”
“The subject was admitted to Mount Pleasant General Hospital,
Washington, D. C., on June 24, with the report that the progress of the
case had been so far eminently satisfactory. After admission he was
found to be insensible, and a few hours subsequently convulsions
supervened in rapidly recurring paroxysms. Twelve ounces of blood were
taken from the temporal artery without apparent benefit. A trephine was
then applied to the seat of fracture, and upon the removal of a bottom
of bone, a portion of the inner table was found slightly depressed. This
was elevated, and the patient, soon after, regained consciousness. On
the 28th of June, the wound in the scalp became erysipelatous, and
before the inflammation subsided there was extensive loss of substance
of the integuments and pericranium denuding a large portion of the
parietal bone. Necrosis ensued, and embraced the whole thickness of the
bone. In September, 1864, a portion of the parietal, three inches by
four, had become so much loosened that it was readily removed. After
this, cicatrization went on rapidly; and at the date of the last report,
December 2, 1864, the wound had contracted to an ulcer less than an inch
in diameter. The patient’s mental faculties were impaired somewhat, the
ward-physician thought, but not to a great extent.”
This specimen was contributed by Assistant-Surgeon E. A. McCall, United
States Army. A colored drawing was made representing the parts prior to
the separation of the exfoliation, (No. 74, surgical series of drawings,
Surgeon General’s office.)
We see suspended in a case the bone of an arm from the shoulder to the
elbow. A musket ball having shattered it, it was necessary to take it
out or amputate the arm. The surgeon chose the former. The bone with all
its splinters was removed. The photograph of its owner is set up under
it, while the living original may come and look at it any moment he
chooses, he being one of the _attachés_ to the Museum. He says that he
can use the injured arm as readily as the other. The muscles and
integuments have taken the place of the lost bone, and are strong enough
to enable him to lift a two-hundred-pounds’ weight without difficulty.
Another case of great interest to the medical profession, is that of a
soldier of Company C, Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, who was wounded in
the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864. The specimen on exhibition is
a piece of the hip-bone, about four or five inches long. This shattered
bone was excised, May 27, 1864, and the patient was discharged from the
hospital, April 17, 1865, perfectly cured, and able to use the mutilated
limb without its portion of thigh-bone. In 1868, he was well, could walk
without a cane, and was employed as a hod-carrier. He now receives a
Government pension of fifteen dollars a month.
At the right of the main entrance, stands the Craniological Cabinet. It
contains a thousand or more specimens of the craniæ of different human
races. Beside the skull of the Caucasian, we see that of the African,
each of the highest order of its kind. The long line contains a “sample”
of nearly all the typical heads of the human race.
The collection contains a large number of Indian skulls of opposite
tribes, taken from tumuli, and gathered from other sources. There are
none to which the scientific man points with more interest, than to the
skulls of the Flat-head Indians. These are perfectly flat on the top,
forming a right angle with the forehead. Here is the head of a baby, who
probably died in the process. Boards are tightly bound to infants’
heads, from birth, till they cease to grow. One would suppose that this
would lessen the brain-capacity. But as it can not grow in front, it
avenges itself by pushing far out on the sides. Thus the Flat-head
Indian’s head is as wide as it is flat, and in defiance of phrenology,
he is not only as bright, but brighter in his wits, than many of his
neighbors.
Here are Indian arrows, taken from the dead bodies of our soldiers on
the plains. The arrowheads are made of barrel-hoops, and so sharp, they
can pierce any skull. One is shown, still sticking through a portion of
the shoulder-blade of a buffalo. The point of the arrow is outside of
the bone, the arrow-tip having passed through the body of the buffalo,
and through the bone, opposite the side that it entered. A rifle-ball
would be flattened where an Indian arrowhead penetrates without
hindrance. The cut of an arrowhead is as clear and clean as if made by
the most acute surgical instrument. The fatal force with which an arrow
is driven from an Indian bow, is illustrated in the following fact:
Here, in the Museum, is the piece of a door of a stage which was
attacked by Comanches near Bellos River, Texas, September 1, 1870. The
wood, about an inch and a half thick, is pierced by an Indian arrowhead,
the point appearing on the outside.
Of the two passengers in the stage at the time of the occurrence, one
was killed and the other escaped. The stage guard consisted of three
soldiers—one was killed instantly, another escaped, the third was
wounded. He received an arrow wound in the head, and three gunshot
flesh-wounds, one in the arm, another in the leg and one in the breast.
In this condition he travelled one hundred and sixty miles across the
plains, on foot. Seven long days it took him to reach the post-hospital
at Fort Concho, Texas. When admitted, mentally, he was clear and bright.
But on September 19, he died.
The skull of this unfortunate man, preserved in the Army Museum, shows
an arrowhead firmly embedded in the petrous portion of the right
temporal bone—a wound in itself, it would seem, sufficient to prove
instantly fatal.
One of the pet curiosities of the Museum is a Japanese manikin—ess—we
will call it, as it is supposed to represent the creature feminine. The
heart is a red apple and the liver (very properly) a yellow one. The
stomach looks like a lean pomegranate. The lungs are represented by five
green oak leaves. These organs are lumped together, the lungs being
below all the rest. The Japanese idea of anatomy seems to be quite as
muddled as its powers of perspective.
A case near the front window, contains three Maori heads from New
Zealand. They are all tattooed with the black juice of the betel-nut.
Any thing more hideous than their empty eye-sockets, their striped cheek
bones and ghastly white teeth cannot be imagined.
Along the windows at the opposite end of the great hall, may be seen
skeletons of all kinds of animals, birds, fishes and reptiles. Here are
skeletons of the horse, the buffalo, the grizzly bear, the elk, the
walrus, and the ray. One of these last, caught in James river, has been
presented to the Museum.
Those who have read the early history of Virginia may remember that it
chronicles the fact that once when Captain John Smith, of wonderful
memory, was one day bathing in the James River, he received a sudden
shock, and many days elapsed before he recovered from it. It was
supposed that he was struck by a ‘stingaree.’
The ‘stingaree’ is a corruption of the stinging ray—and such a specimen
is shown in the Museum. The ray is a fish of the cartilaginous species,
not having the vertebrated form. It has wings, each measuring about
fourteen inches across the widest part; and it has a very long tail, in
which is implanted a sting, which resembles in its effects a shock of
electricity, and produces temporary paralysis. The ray darts in among a
shoal of fishes, electrifies them, and then proceeds to devour them.
The microscopical division of the Museum on the library floor is of
great value. It affords facilities for the study of natural history and
comparative anatomy equal to the medical schools of Paris. This
department contains a series of photographical publications of enlarged
photographic pictures of the specimens, mounted on cardboard and bound
in Russia leather. A set of this series, also a complete set of bound
photographs of all the specimens contained in the surgical department of
the Museum, with a sketch of the case attached, has been presented to
all the governments and large public libraries of Europe. In return,
these European governments and libraries have sent complete sets of like
publications of their own. Several hundred volumes, handsomely bound,
include these foreign gifts to the Army Medical Museum at Washington.
The primary object of the Army Medical Museum is to illustrate minutely
the wounds and diseases of our late war, while the medical and surgical
histories of the war, now being written under the supervision of the
Surgeon-General, will show the processes of treatment and their results.
Dr. J. J. Woodward, assisted by Dr. Otis, both of Pennsylvania, are
charged with the writing of this history. Doctor Woodward is writing the
medical history, and Doctor Otis the surgical history of this important
national report. Five thousand copies of each will be issued by
Congress. The first volumes of both histories have already come from the
bindery of the Public Printer in handsome form. The first of the medical
volumes is chiefly occupied with tabular statements of the diseases
which prevailed, and the numbers dying of each, during the entire period
of our civil war. The coming volumes will treat of these diseases, the
treatment pursued, and will give photographs of the organs affected in
each disease.
The Museum proper is divided into four departments, Surgery, Medicine,
Anatomy, and Comparative Anatomy. These are all placed in the hall of
the third story. We reach this by an outer iron stair-case, whose walls
on either side are lined with sketches and plans of the battle-fields of
Gettysburg and Antietam, in black walnut frames. Entering the long hall,
we are confronted at once by the ghastly victims in the frames opposite,
and the eyes are quickly withdrawn to glance up and down along the
polished glass cases which line the walls. Above some of these cases
droop the flags and standards, the swords and sabres which have survived
the war. Models of ambulances, stretchers, and hospital tents, also have
a place on the top of these cases.
More than four-fifths of the specimens in the Museum have been presented
to it, or exchanged for duplicate objects, quantities of which are
stored in the attic, ready for exchange. The Army Medical Museum belongs
to the nation, and as its existence and object have been widely
published, it is in daily receipt of new specimens. It has become an
object of personal interest and pride to the medical fraternity of the
country, each one of whom is invited to become a contributor to its
pathological treasures. In a late official report, the Surgeon-General
thus refers to the subject, which is of interest to all medical persons:
“It is not intended to impose upon medical officers the labor of
dissecting and preparing the specimens they may contribute to the
Museum. This will be done under the superintendence of the curator. In
forwarding such pathological objects as compound fractures, bony
specimens, and wet preparations generally, obtained after amputation,
operation, or cadaveric examination, all unnecessary soft parts should
first be roughly removed. Every specimen should then be wrapped
separately in a cloth, so as to preserve all spiculæ and fragments. A
small block of wood should be attached, with the number of the specimen
and the name of the medical officer sending it inscribed in lead-pencil;
or a strip of sheet-lead, properly marked with the point of an awl, may
be employed for this purpose. In either case, the inscription will be
uninjured by the contact of fluids. The preparation should be then
immersed in diluted alcohol or whisky, contained in a keg or small cask.
When a sufficient number of objects shall have accumulated, the cask
should be forwarded to the Army Medical Museum, in Washington, D. C. The
expenses of expressage will be defrayed in Washington. The receipt of
the keg or package will be duly acknowledged by the curator of the
Museum.”
When the first Army Medical Museum report was issued, January 1, 1863,
the collection begun in August, 1862, numbered over thirteen hundred in
all. Since then the collection has grown to the following proportions.
In 1873 it contains over sixteen thousand objects. In the surgical
department alone, there are over six thousand. In the medical department
over eleven hundred. In the anatomical department over nine hundred. In
the department of comparative anatomy over one thousand. In the
microscopical department over six thousand. A library and
photograph-gallery belong exclusively to the Museum. The side rooms and
lower stories are used as the laboratories and work-rooms for preparing
and mounting the specimens for exhibition. The Army Medical Museum is a
great beginning—and yet only a beginning of one of the most unique,
precious and important, pathological collections in the world.
CHAPTER XLIV.
“OLD PROBABILITIES’” WORKSHOP—HOW WEATHER CALCULATIONS
ARE MADE.
“Old Probabilities”—An Interesting Subject—The Weather Bureau—The
Experience of Fifty Centuries—Value of Scientific
Knowledge—Meteorological Observations—Brigadier-General Albert J.
Meyer—His Life and Career—He Introduces System and Order—Foreseeing
the Approach of Storms—The Fate of the _Metis_—Quicker than the
Storm—The First Warning by Telegraph—Exchanging Reports with
Canada—The “Observing Stations”—Protecting the River Commerce—The
Signal Corps—The Examinations—The Sergeant’s Duties—The
Signal-Stations—The Work of the Observers—Preparing Bulletins at
Washington—Professor Maury’s Account—Safeguards Against
Mistakes—Deducing Probabilities—Despatching Bulletins—Preparing
Meteorological Maps—Recording Observations—Watching the Storm—The
Storm at San Francisco—Prophetic Preparations—Perfect
Arrangements—Training the Sergeants—General Meyer’s Work—“Away up G
Street”—The Home of Old and Young “Probabilities”—An Extraordinary
Mansion—The “Kites and Windmills”—Inside the Mansion—The
Apparatus—“The Unerring Weather-Man”—“Old Probabilities” Himself—How
Calculations are Made—“Young Probabilities”—Interesting Facts.
There is no theme, not excepting marriage, birth, and death, that is
more absorbing than “the weather.” It has made and unmade kingdoms, it
has brought triumph in battle, and terrible defeat, it has brought woe
and death; but that was before the day of “Old Probabilities,” or the
Weather Bureau.
It is your own fault now, if your wedding-day is wet and gloomy, or if
the rain pours into the open grave of the best-beloved. If you follow
the weather report, you will know days before what the weather, in all
probability, will be, and the report seldom fails. Even ten years ago,
who would have thought that he could so soon find in the newspaper the
almost unfailing prophecy of the skies of the coming day! Think of the
millions of anxious faces which have turned sky-ward since the earth
began! What eager and ignorant eyes have peered upward, to descry the
portents of the unseen, yet brooding storm. Ignorance has already given
place to knowledge, to a scientific forecasting of the elements, to a
forestatement of the conditions of earth and air.
This wonderful fact, in its influence, penetrates not only to the finest
fibre of social happiness, but influences all the civilizations of the
earth. Although the changes of the atmosphere have seemed the most
apparent of all the workings of nature, and have been more closely
watched, and more constantly commented on by mankind, than all others
taken together, after the lapse of fifty centuries, the desultory
observer is unable to predict certainly the weather of a single day.
The value of accurate scientific knowledge on a subject which affects
vitally the agricultural and commercial interests of the world, as well
as the physical health and spiritual happiness of mankind, cannot be
overestimated.
By a joint resolution of Congress, approved February 9, 1870, the
Secretary-of-War was authorized and required to provide for taking
meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of
the continent, and at other points in the States and Territories of the
United States, and for giving notice on the northern lakes, and on the
sea-coast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and
force of storms.
This special service was intrusted to the immediate supervision and
control of General Albert J. Meyer. The following record of his
services, in the United States Army, can but slightly indicate his
peculiar fitness for the position which he now holds.
Brevet Brigadier-General Albert J. Meyer, Colonel and Chief Signal
Officer, United States Army, was born in New York, and appointed
Assistant-Surgeon, United States Army, from that State, September, 1854.
He served on the Texas frontier, in the Rio Grande Valley, and at Fort
Davis, Texas, to 1857; on special duty, signal service, 1858 to 1860. He
was appointed Major and Chief Signal Officer, United States Army, July,
1860. In the Department of New Mexico to May, 1861; on staff of General
Butler, Fort Monroe, Va., June, 1861; organized and commanded Signal
Camp, Fort Monroe, Va.; _Aide-de-Camp_ to General McDowell at first
battle of Bull Run, Va.; Chief Signal Officer on staff of General
McClellan, and commanded Signal Corps, Army of the Potomac, to October,
1862; charge of Signal Office, Washington, D. C., to November, 1863.
He was appointed Colonel and Chief Signal Officer, United States Army,
March, 1863; member of Central Board of Examination for admission to
Signal Corps from April, 1863; on _reconnoissance_ of the Mississippi
River, between Cairo, Ill., and Memphis, Tenn., December, 1863, to May,
1864; Chief Signal Officer, Military Division of West Mississippi, May,
1864; Colonel and Chief Signal Officer, United States Army, July, 1866.
He was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel, United States Army, for gallant and
meritorious services at the battle of Hanover Courthouse, Va.; Colonel,
United States Army, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle
of Malvern Hill, Va.; and Brigadier General, United States Army, for
distinguished services in organizing, instructing, and commanding Signal
Corps of the army, and for its especial service at Allatoona, Ga.,
October 5, 1864.
General Meyer graduated at Geneva College, New York, 1847, A. B. and A.
M., and took the degree of M. D., at the University of Buffalo, in 1851.
He is the author of a manual of signals for the United States Army and
Navy.
Upon his appointment as Chief of the Signal Service, of the United
States Army, General Meyer at once inaugurated a systematic plan; he
established stations at all points, decided by competent authorities to
be important and practicable. These he provided with plain, efficient
instruments, and keen, trained observers, whose duty it was to report
three times daily, at intervals of eight hours. These reports, made in
abbreviated cypher, were conveyed by telegraph. With the delivery of the
reports at Washington, and at other important posts to which they were
sent, began the practical workings of the “Weather Bureau” in the Signal
Service of the United States. January 15, 1871, the stations on the
Atlantic Coast, with others, were added to the list reporting.
One of the most important practical functions of the Bureau, is that of
giving warning of approaching storms to vessels at the ports on the
lakes. The unfortunate _Metis_ received such a warning before it started
on its last disastrous voyage. It gave no heed, and in consequence went
to wreck, and scattered its victims thick as snow-flakes on the
engulfing waters of the Sound. The velocity of a storm being accurately
observed at any one of the stations, it was easy to predict with
accuracy the time of its arrival at any given point lying in its path;
while the lightning wing of the telegraph bore this knowledge
instantaneously to the threatened point.
The first telegraphic warning given thus was sent and bulletined at the
several ports along the lakes, November 8, 1870.
The system was soon carried still nearer perfection by the adoption of
cautionary signals. The first of these was displayed at Oswego, N. Y.,
October 26, 1871. Near this time, without any cost to the United States,
the Bureau obtained a considerable extension to its area of observation.
In time the Canadian Government made a considerable appropriation to
establish a similar system in the Dominion. Professor Kingston, chief of
the Meteorological Bureau of Canada, requested of General Meyer an
exchange of reports. Arrangements for such an exchange were duly made,
and the first reports from Toronto were forwarded to the United States,
November 13, 1871. Reports were also exchanged with the director of the
Observatory at Montreal. The Canadian reports are made synchronously
with those of the United States and in the same cypher. The stations of
the Dominion are van-posts to the United States, giving warning of
storms moving downward from the north.
By the Act of Congress, approved June 10, 1872, it was made the duty of
the Secretary-of-War to provide such stations, signals and reports as
might be found necessary for the benefit of the commercial and
agricultural interests throughout the country. In response to an
invitation made by the Chief Signal Officer, eighty-nine agricultural
societies and thirty-eight boards of trade and chambers of commerce have
appointed meteorological committees to coöperate and correspond with the
Signal Bureau. The observing stations now number eighty-five. New
stations are constantly being added. The station at Mount Washington is
six thousand two hundred and ninety feet above the level of the sea.
Other mountain-stations are to be established for the purpose of making
observations upon the varying meteorological phenomena of different
altitudes. These observations are sometimes made in a balloon.
To obtain reports of observations at sea, to some extent, the
coöperation of ship-captains and of officers at the head of exploring
expeditions has been obtained. A constant interchange of correspondence
is also maintained with foreign meteorological societies. Five hundred
tri-daily reports are constantly sent abroad. The same exchange with
foreign governments will be arranged as soon as possible.
Besides weather-reports, a system of observation on the changes in the
depth of waters in the principal Western rivers is already established.
Great pains are taken with the reports on this subject, which are made
to protect the river commerce from ice and freshets, and the lower river
_levées_ from breakage and overflow. The observations on the weather
embrace those on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity of the air,
force, direction and velocity of the wind, and the amount of rain-fall.
For these purposes each station is carefully provided with appropriate
instruments by the central office.
The Signal Corps is composed of a commanding officer with the rank of
brigadier-general, several commissioned officers, and a certain number
of sergeants and enlisted men. The sergeants are required to be
proficient in spelling, the ground-rules of arithmetic, including
decimal fractions, and the geography of the United States, and are
required to write a legible hand. They are examined in these branches
before being admitted into the service. They are also subjected to a
medical examination, and only men of sound physical condition are
accepted. They are regularly enlisted into the military service of the
United States, and are subject to the regulations for the government of
the army.
Immediately upon admission to the corps, each sergeant is sent to Fort
Whipple, in Virginia, opposite Washington, where he is taught the duties
of his profession, which are “chiefly those pertaining to the
observation, record and proper publication and report, at such times as
may be required, of the state of the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer,
and rain-gauge, or other instruments, and the report by telegraph or
signal, at such times as indicated, and to such places as may be
designated by the chief signal officer, of the observations as made, or
such other information as may be required.” The text-books used in the
school at Fort Whipple, are Loomis’s “Text Book of Meteorology,”
Buchan’s “Hand Book of Meteorology,” Pape’s “Practical Telegraphy,” and
the “Manual of Signals for the United States Army.” Instruction in the
use of the instruments is also given, and the sergeant is taught to
operate the telegraph. He is required to make daily recitations, and
when he is considered prepared, by his instructor, he is ordered before
an examining board, and is subjected to a rigid examination. If he is
found properly qualified, he is assigned to a signal station in some
part of the country, and is allowed an enlisted man to assist him in his
duties.
There are eighty-five signal stations, located in various parts of the
Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from British America to the
Gulf of Mexico. Each of these is supplied with a full set of the
instruments necessary for ascertaining the condition of the weather,
etc., and is in charge of an observer-sergeant, who is required to make
observations three times a day, by means of his instruments, which are
adjusted to a standard at Washington. These observations are made at 8
A. M., at 4 P. M., and at midnight. Each post of observation is
furnished with a clock which is regulated by the standard of Washington
time, so that the observations are taken precisely at the same moment
all over the United States.
The result of each observation is immediately telegraphed to the Signal
Office at Washington, the Government having made arrangements with the
telegraph companies to secure the instant transmission of these
messages. The reports are limited to a fixed number of words, and the
time of their transmission to a fixed number of seconds.
The signal stations, as at present located throughout the country, have
been chosen or located at points from which reports of observations will
be most useful as indicating the general barometric pressure, or the
approach and force of storms, and from which storm warnings, as the
atmospheric indications arise, may be forwarded, with greatest dispatch,
to imperilled ports.
The work of the observers at the stations is simple. It is limited to a
reading of their instruments at stated times, the transmission to
Washington of the results of these observations, and of information of
any meteorological facts existing at the station, when their tri-daily
report is telegraphed to Washington. The work of the officers on duty at
the Signal Office in Washington, is of a higher character, and demands
of them the highest skill and perfect accuracy. The reports from the
various stations are read and recorded as they come in, and from them,
the officer charged with this duty prepares a statement of the condition
of the weather during the _past_ twenty-four hours, and indicates the
changes most likely to occur within the _next_ twenty-four hours. These
statements are prepared shortly after midnight, and are at once
telegraphed to the various cities and important ports of the Union, in
time for their publication in the newspapers the next morning.
Professor Maury, of the Signal Office, thus sums up the working of the
service:
“Each observer at the station writes his report on manifold paper. One
copy he preserves, another he gives to the telegraph-operator, who
telegraphs the contents to Washington. The preserved copy is a voucher
for the report actually sent by the observer; and, if the operator is
careless, and makes a mistake, he cannot lay the blame on the
observer, who has a copy of his report, which must be a _fac-simile_
of the one he has handed to the operator. The preserved copy is
afterward forwarded by the Observer-Sergeant to the office in
Washington, where it is filed, and finally bound up in a volume for
future reference.
“When all the reports from the various stations have been received,
they are tabulated and handed to the officer, (Professor Abbe,) whose
duty it is to write out the synopsis and deduce the ‘probabilities,’
which in a few minutes are to be telegraphed to the press all over the
country. This is a work of thirty minutes. The bulletin of
‘probabilities,’ which at present is all that is undertaken, is made
out thrice daily, in the forenoon, afternoon, and after the midnight
reports have been received, inspected, and studied out by the
accomplished gentleman and able meteorologist, who is at the head of
this work. The ‘probabilities’ for the weather for the ensuing day, so
soon as written out by the Professor, are immediately telegraphed to
all newspapers in the country who are willing to publish them for the
benefit of their readers.”
Copies of the telegrams of “Probabilities” are also instantly sent to
all boards of trade, chambers of commerce, merchants’ exchanges,
scientific societies, etc., and to conspicuous places, especially
sea-ports, all over the country.
While the professor is preparing his bulletins from the reports just
furnished him by telegraph, the sergeants are preparing maps which shall
show, by arrows and numbers, exactly what was the meteorologic condition
of the whole country when the last reports were sent in. These maps are
printed in quantities, and give all the signal stations. A dozen copies
are laid on the table with sheets of carbon paper between them, and
arrow-stamps strike in them (by the manifold process) the direction of
the window at each station. The other observations as to temperature,
barometric pressure, etc., etc., are also in the same way put on them.
These maps are displayed at various conspicuous points in Washington,
_e. g._, at the War Department, Capitol, Observatory, Smithsonian
Institute, and the office of the chief signal-officer. They serve also
as perfect records of the weather for the day and hour indicated on
them, and are bound up in a book for future use.
Every report and paper that reaches the Signal Office is carefully
preserved on a file, so that, at the end of each year, the office
possesses a complete history of the meteorology of every day in the
year, or nearly 50,000 observations, besides the countless and
continuous records from all of its self-registering instruments.
When momentous storms are moving, observers send extra telegrams, which
are dispatched, received, acted upon, filed, etc., precisely as are the
tri-daily reports. One invaluable feature of the system, as now
organized by General Meyer, is that the phenomena of any particular
storm are not studied some days or weeks after the occurrence, but while
the occurrence is fresh in mind. To the study of every such storm, and
of all the “probabilities” issued from the office, the chief
signal-officer gives his personal and unremitting attention. As the
observations are made at so many stations, and forwarded every eight
hours, or oftener, by special telegram from all quarters of the country,
the movements and behavior of every decided storm can be precisely
noted; and the terrible meteor can be tracked and “raced down” in a few
hours or minutes.
An instance of this occurred on the 22d of February, 1871, just after
the great storm which had fallen upon San Francisco. While it was still
revolving round that city, its probable arrival at Corinne, Utah, was
telegraphed there, and also at Cheyenne. Thousands of miles from its
roar, the officers at the Signal Office in Washington indicated its
track, velocity, and force. In twenty-four hours, as they had
fore-warned Cheyenne and Omaha, it reached those cities. Chicago was
warned twenty-four hours before it came. It arrived there with great
violence, unroofing houses and causing much destruction. Its course was
telegraphed to Cleveland and Buffalo, both of which places, a day after,
it duly visited. The President of the Pacific Railroad has not more
perfectly under his eye and control the train that left San Francisco,
to-day, than General Meyer had the storm just described.
While the observers now in the field are perfecting themselves in their
work, the chief signal-officer is training other sergeants at the camp
of instruction (Fort Whipple, Virginia), who will go forth hereafter as
valued auxiliaries. It has been fully demonstrated by the signal-officer
that the army of the United States is the best medium through which to
conduct most efficiently and economically the operations of the Storm
Signal-Service. Through the army organization the vast system of
telegraphy for meteorological purposes can be, and is now being most
successfully handled. “Whatever else General Meyer has not done,” says
the New York _World_, “he has demonstrated that there can be, and now
is, a perfect net-work of telegraphic communication extending over the
whole country, working in perfect order, by the signal-men, and capable
of furnishing almost instantaneous messages from every point to the
central office at Washington.”
Away up on G street we see the scientific home of both old and young
“Probabilities.” We see it from afar, for its high Mansard seems to be
stuck full of boys’ kites and wind-mills, playing and flying with the
winds. It looks like a gigantic play-house. Any mortal, scientific or
otherwise, would pause before this ancient house with an infantile roof,
and wonder what child of larger growth amused himself playing with all
the vanes and anemometers on its roof. It is painted a pearly drab.
Fresh and fair, it has the effect of a youthful wig on an old man’s
head, or a girl’s spring hat perched upon the head of a wintry old lady.
Inside, the house looks less like a Skimpole in brick, and really takes
on a cheerfully serious air.
On the first floor, we find two large offices, and a cozy little
library, which stows away one thousand books, or more, on Meteorology,
and its kindred themes. In its eastern hall, hang three great
weather-maps, on which the state and changes of the weather at all the
stations, for the past twenty-four hours, are indicated by established
symbols. The second and third stories are occupied by the telegraphic
corps. To this the station-work proper is assigned. In one room is the
telegraphic apparatus, connecting with the many lines over which
weather-reports are received from all over the country. After
translation from the cypher into every-day speech, the reports are
combined, and the weather-bulletin prepared. On this floor, also, the
weekly mail-reports, from the widely-scattered stations, are received,
examined, corrected, and filed for future use. Here, tucked away in a
little room, we find “Acting Probabilities”—Professor Abbe, the unerring
“weather-man,” who makes ready the synopsis each day prepared for the
Associate Press Agents, Postmasters, etc.
We are sure, also, somewhere, to come in contact with “Old
Probabilities” himself, supervising all. Like Professor Abbe, strange to
say, he is a young man. General Meyer looks soldierly, and trig. He has
fair face and hair, closely-cut whiskers, a rather small head, and a
pair of inquiring, wise-looking eyes. The entire top floor is devoted to
“local observations, and the gentlemen who play with the wind-mills and
high-flying kites, upon the roof.” Among the instruments used here, are
Hough’s barograph, a self-registering tide gauge; Addie’s London
barometer, which is acknowledged as the standard barometer; Gibbon’s
electric self-recording anemometer and anemoscope, the inventions of
Lieutenant Gibbon, of the Signal-Service. The working force of the
office is divided into three reliefs, each of which is on duty eight
hours out of the twenty-four.
Any night, one sitting by this window, at a late hour, may see a slender
youth shooting past toward the Signal-Service Bureau. This is “Young
Probabilities,” and he is dressed in white. He is going to forecast the
midnight portents for the next day.
The positive advantage of the midnight probabilities is that they relate
to the weather of the coming day, and appear at the breakfast table to
tell Dick and Dolly what, and what _not_ to do. The number of
weather-maps issued daily from the central office is 600; from St. Louis
200; from New York 200; from Philadelphia, Chicago and Cincinnati 100
each, making a daily issue of 1,300. All of these are lithographed and
printed at the central office.
[Illustration:
“OLD PROBABILITIES’” INSTRUMENT ROOM.
Storm and Weather Signal Service Bureau.—Washington.
]
“During the year 1872, 16,064 weather bulletins and 107,888 maps were
issued from the office, and 2,920 reports furnished to the press. The
work of the office has been recently extended by the publication of the
probabilities based upon the midnight reports, which are widely
distributed through the joint agency of the Signal Bureau and the
Post-Office Department. Four hundred copies are issued from the
Washington office, 1,000 from New York, 1,500 from Cincinnati, 800 from
Detroit, 1,500 from Chicago, and 1,000 from St. Louis, and it is
expected that the number will be still further increased during the
year. The printed copies are sent by mail to each post-office within a
radius of one hundred miles of the several points of distribution, to
which the matter is telegraphed from the central office.”
“The practical value of the observations on our western rivers is
strikingly illustrated by the report of the observer at Memphis, Tenn.,
who states that captains and pilots of boats generally decide by the
reports of the Signal Bureau, on the board on the _levée_ at that port,
whether the depth of the water above is sufficient to permit them to
ascend the upper Mississippi or the Ohio. Before these reports were
published, boats arriving during the night lost from six to ten hours in
waiting for the telegraphic reports in the morning papers.
“A curious illustration of the legal value of the reports is furnished
by the observer at Shreveport, La., who was summoned as a witness in a
murder case, as to the condition of the river and the direction of the
wind at the time of the supposed murder. These circumstances formed an
essential part of the proof in the case.
“Perhaps few people would have supposed that the reports of the Bureau
could have any relation to the practice of medicine, yet it is said to
be a fact that many intelligent physicians avail themselves of the
records of the stations in recommending to their patient an equable and
agreeable climate. An observer at Indianapolis reports that several are
accustomed to note the readings of the barometer every morning and
evening, and one of them assured him that he modified his prescriptions
according to barometric changes, believing that such changes have a
direct effect upon the condition of his patients.
“Among the most important of the advantages connected with operations of
the Weather Bureau are those arising from the continuous registering of
atmospheric conditions, which will enable the scientific inquirer to
determine, from the records of the office, the degree of temperature,
barometric pressure, moisture of the air, the amount of rainfalls, the
direction of the wind at various points for long periods of time. Having
these data for various sections, agriculturists, microscopists, and
mycologists will be enabled to determine in advance the probabilities as
to the prevalence of particular classes of fungi in any district, and
thus to indicate the adaptation of such districts for the cultivation of
the grains, vegetables, or fruits which are liable to be affected by
fungoid diseases.
“The signal service is not without its humorous side, an instance of
which is furnished by the observer at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. The
establishment of the station at that point, early last spring, chanced
to be followed by a long-continued period of unusually wet and stormy
weather. This the Indians attributed to the observer, whom some person
of waggish propensities had represented to them as the man that
regulated the weather. After bearing their supposed persecution with
exemplary fortitude for some weeks, their patience finally gave way, and
they held an indignation meeting, at which it was seriously proposed to
tear down the station. It was ultimately determined, however, to consult
their agent; and upon his representing to them the true state of
affairs, they reconciled themselves to the ‘weather-witch,’ and wisely
resolved to wait peacefully for better times.”
CHAPTER XLV.
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT—THE UNITED STATES OBSERVATORY—THE STATE DEPARTMENT.
Primitive Arrangements—The Navy in Early Days—The Department of the Navy
Established—The Secretary’s Office—The Navy-Yards and Docks—The
Bureau of Construction—The Bureau of Provisions and
Clothing—Equipment of Vessels—Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography—The
Naval Observatory—The Bureau of Medicine—Interesting Statistics—The
Navy Seventy Years Ago—The “Day of Small Things”—Instructions of the
Great Napoleon—Keeping Pace with England—The Glories of Foote,
Ferry, Porter and Farragut—Scene from the Observatory—Peeping
Through the Telescope—The Mountains in the Moon—The Largest
Telescope in the World—Making Mathematical Notes—A Passion for
Star-gazing—Casting Horoscopes—Gazing for Pastime—“For the Sake of
Science”—The Chronometers of the Government—Comparing Notes—The Test
of Time—Chronometers on Trial—The Wind and Current Charts—The Good
Deeds of Lieutenant Maury—“The Habits of the Whale”—The Equatorial—A
Self-acting Telescope—The Transit Instrument—The Great Astronomical
Clock—Telling Time by Telegraph—Hearing the Clock Tick Miles
Away—The Transit of Venus—Great Preparations—A Trifle of
Half-a-Million of Miles—The Department of Foreign Affairs—The
Secretary of State—A Little Secret Suggestion—The Diplomatic
Bureau—The Consular Bureau—The Disbursing-Agent—The
Translator—The Clerk-of-Appointments—Clerk-of-the-Rolls—The
Clerk-of-Authentications—Pardons and Passports—The Superintendent of
Statistics.
The first intention of the fathers of the American Republic was to
provide for a chief clerk, under whose direction contracts might be made
for munitions of war, and the inspection of provisions necessary for
carrying on war by land or sea.
As the maritime warfare of the United States increased in the brilliancy
of its victories, the necessity for a separate organization to control
its officers, and to provide for the feeding, equipment, and payment of
its sea-faring warriors gradually became apparent; but it was not until
the thirtieth day of April, 1798, that Congress was sufficiently
apprised of this necessity to pass and secure the approval of an “Act to
establish an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of
the Navy,” and on the twenty-second day of June of the same year an Act
was passed granting the franking privilege to the Secretary of the Navy.
Subsequent legislation has dealt more with the _morale_ of the navy than
with the functions of the department; reference to various other Acts is
therefore omitted.
As organized in 1860, the department consists of the following
officials: The Secretary; Chief-Clerk; Bureau of Navy-yards and Docks;
Bureau of Provisions and Clothing; Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography;
and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
The division of labor is as follows:
Secretary’s Office: The Secretary has charge of everything connected
with the naval establishment, and the execution of all laws relating
thereto is intrusted to him, under the general direction of the
President of the United States, who, by the Constitution, is
Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy. All instructions to commanders
of squadrons and commanders of vessels, all orders of officers,
commissions of officers, both in the navy and marine corps, appointments
of commissioned and warrant-officers, orders for the enlistment and
discharge of seamen, emanate from the Secretary’s office. All the duties
of the different Bureaus are performed under the authority of the
Secretary, and their orders are considered as emanating from him. The
general superintendence of the marine corps forms also a part of the
duties of the Secretary, and all the orders of the commandant of that
corps should be approved by him.
Bureau of Navy-yards and Docks: Chief-of-the-Bureau, four clerks, one
civil-engineer and one draughtsman. All the navy-yards, docks and
wharves, buildings and machinery in navy-yards, and everything
immediately connected with them, are under the superintendence of this
Bureau. It is also charged with the management of the Naval Asylum.
Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair: Chief-of-the Bureau,
eight clerks, and one draughtsman. The office of the Engineer-in-chief
of the Navy, who is assisted by three assistant-engineers, is attached
to this Bureau. This Bureau has charge of the building and repairs of
all vessels-of-war, purchase of materials, and the providing of all
vessels with their equipments, as sails, anchors, water-tanks, etc. The
Engineer-in-chief superintends the construction of all marine
steam-engines for the navy, and, with the approval of the Secretary,
decides upon plans for their construction.
Bureau of Provisions and Clothing: Chief-of-Bureau and four clerks. All
provisions for the use of the navy, and clothing, together with the
making of contracts for furnishing the same, come under the charge of
this Bureau.
Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography: Chief-of-Bureau, four clerks, and
one draughtsman. This Bureau has charge of all ordnance and ordnance
stores, the manufacture or purchase of cannon, guns, powder, shot,
shells, etc., and the equipment of vessels-of-war, with everything
connected therewith. It also provides them with maps, charts,
chronometers, barometers, etc., together, with such books as are
furnished to ships-of-war. The United States Naval Observatory and
Hydrographical Office at Washington, and the Naval Academy at Annapolis,
are also under the general superintendence of the Chief of this Bureau.
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery: Chief-of-Bureau, one
Passed-Assistant-Surgeon United States Navy, and two clerks. Everything
relating to medicines and medical stores, treatment of sick and wounded,
and management of hospitals, comes within the superintendence of this
Bureau.
The following statistics may be interesting to some of our readers: In
1806, the number of seamen authorized by law was 925, to which number
3,600 were added in 1809. In 1812, Congress authorized the President to
employ as many as would be necessary to equip the vessels to be put in
service, and to build as many vessels for the lakes as the public
service required. In January, 1814, there were in actual service seven
frigates, two corvettes, seven sloops-of-war, two block-ships, four
brigs, and three schooners, for sea, besides the several lake-squadrons,
gunboats, and harbor-barges, three ships-of-the-line, and three frigates
on the stocks. The whole number of men and officers employed was 13,339,
of which 3,729 were able seamen, and 6,721 ordinary. The marine corps,
as enlarged in 1814, was 2,700 men and officers. The commissioned naval
officers combatant were 22 captains, 18 commanders, 107 lieutenants, 450
midshipmen.
In 1814, Secretary Jones reported to the Senate that there were three
74-gun and three 44-gun ships building, six new sloops-of-war built,
twenty barges and one hundred and twenty gun-boats employed in the
Atlantic waters, thirty-three vessels of all sizes for sea, afloat or
building, and thirty-one on the lakes. Even in 1813, the energy of this
department had led the first Napoleon to issue the following
instructions to his Minister of Marine:
“You will receive a decree by which I order the building, at Toulon,
at Rochefort, and at Cherburg, of a frigate of American construction.
I am certain that the English have had built a considerable number of
frigates on that model. They go better, and they adopt them; we must
not be behindhand. Those which you will have built at Toulon, at
Rochefort, and at Cherburg, will manœuvre in the roads, and give us to
understand what to think of the model.”
Since then, in defence of the nation, the American Navy has won
victories which placed it in the front rank of the navies of the world.
Mobile, with the names of Foote, Terry, Porter and Farragut, do not pale
before any victories or names of earth.
A soft midsummer night, we stood upon the roof of the United States
Observatory. Beneath us was Braddock’s Hill, where, generations gone,
the young surveyor dreamed; and stretching far on to its guardian
Capitol, the city which he foresaw—a verity now—its myriad lights
twinkling through the misty distance. To our right was Georgetown;
beyond Arlington Heights, and House; before us the Potomac, winding on
to Alexandria; above us the fathomless heavens, the waxing moon and
silent stars. Professor Harkness moved an axle; the great revolving dome
turned round and parted; the great telescope was pointed to the opening,
and the broad seam of sky visible between. We mounted the perch, and
there were the mountains in the moon! their jagged edges, their yawning
craters, yet only for a moment; for earth and moon are swift travellers.
In a moment Madame Moon had outstripped our point of vision, and we had
to pursue her.
Just before us was the unfinished dome of another observatory, wherein
will soon be placed the largest telescope in the world. Beside us two
other open domes, and upward pointed telescopes, told of other
star-gazers below. We descended. There, in a dimly-lighted room, stood a
solitary man peering through a telescope, its divining face uplifted to
the narrow field of stars visible through the open dome. Hush! An
observation! The solitary man whose face we now see is aged, and his
hair white, with swift and silent step turns from his telescope to his
desk, to make his mathematical notes.
“He need not do this unless he chooses,” says Professor H. “He was long
ago promoted above this work. But a man who has formed a passion for
star-gazing and observation never gets over it.” The room was dim and
silent enough to have been given up to the presence of death. One felt
as if some momentous operation were going on. The stars and the
star-gazer both were felt. I shrank silent, into a corner, till that
horoscope was cast, and the path of that far-away world measured to its
minutest fraction. In the opposite wing we found another star-gazer. Was
he gazing for pastime? Not at all. He was gazing for the Government and
the sake of science.
Thus, while the nation sleeps, its servants keep watch not only of the
weather, but of remotest worlds.
The chronometers belonging to the Government are kept in a room set
apart for that purpose. These instruments are purchased by the Navy
Department, with the understanding that they are to be tested in the
Observatory for one year. They are placed in the chronometer room, and
are carefully wound and regulated. They are examined daily, and compared
with the great Astronomical Clock of the Observatory, and an accurate
record of the movements of each one is kept in a book prepared for that
purpose.
The temperature of the room is also examined daily, and recorded. These
minute records enable the officers of the Observatory to point out the
exact fault of each imperfect chronometer. Thanks to this, the maker is
enabled to remedy the defect, and the instrument is made perfect. At the
end of the year, the instruments found to be unsatisfactory are returned
to their makers, and those which pass the test are paid for. The
returned instruments are usually overhauled by the makers, and the
defects remedied. They are then sent back for a trial of another year,
at the end of which time they rarely fail to pass.
There are usually from sixty to one hundred chronometers on trial at the
Observatory, and the apartment in which they are kept is one of the most
interesting in the establishment.
The researches connected with the famous “Wind-and-Current-Charts,”
begun and prosecuted so successfully by Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury,
whose services were lost to the country by his participation in the
Rebellion, are conducted here, and also those connected with “The Habits
of the Whale,” and other ocean phenomena.
The Equatorial, which is the largest telescope in the Observatory, is
mounted in the revolving dome which rises above the main building. It
has a fourteen-feet refractor, and an object-glass nine inches in
diameter. Its movements are most ingenious, being regulated by machinery
and clock-work. Its powers are so great, that it renders stars visible
at midday, and, if directed at a given star in the morning, its
machinery will work so accurately, that it will follow with perfect
exactness the path of the star, which will be visible through it as long
as the star is above the horizon. The Meridian and Mural Circles are in
one of the rooms below.
The Transit-Instrument is placed in the west wing of the building, under
a slit twenty inches wide, extending across the roofs, and down the wall
of the apartment on each side, to within four or five feet of the floor.
It was made by Estel & Son, Munich, and is a seven-foot achromatic, with
a clear aperture of 5.3 inches. The mounting consists of two granite
piers, seven feet high, each formed of a solid block of that stone, let
down below the floor and imbedded in a stone foundation eight feet deep,
and completely isolated from the building. Midway between the piers, and
running north and south, is the artificial horizon composed of a slab of
granite ten feet long, nineteen inches deep, and thirteen inches broad;
it rests on the foundation, and is isolated from the floor, with the
level of which the top of it is even, with a space all round it of half
an inch. In the middle of this slab, and in the nadir of the telescope,
there is a mortise, nine inches square and ten inches deep, in which the
artificial horizon is placed to protect it from the wind during the
adjustment for collimation, or the determination of the error of
collimation of level, and the adjustment for stellar focus, verticality
of wires, and the other uses of the collimating eye-piece.
The great Astronomical Clock, or “Electro-Chronograph” is placed in the
same room with the Transit-Instrument, and is used in connection with it
to denote sidereal time. It was invented by Professor John Locke, of
Cincinnati, and is one of the most remarkable instruments in the world.
By means of an electrical battery in the building, the movements of this
clock can be repeated by telegraph in any city or town in the land to
which the wires extend. With the wires connected with it, its ticks may
be heard in any part of the country, and it will record the time so
accurately that an astronomer in Portland or New Orleans can tell with
exactness the time of day by this clock. It also regulates the time for
the city. There is a flag-staff on top of the dome, upon which a black
ball is hoisted at ten minutes before noon, every day. This is to warn
persons desiring to know the exact time to examine their watches and
clocks. Just as the clock records the hour of twelve, the ball drops,
and thus informs the city that it is high noon.
The officials of the Naval Observatory have nearly completed the plan of
operation for observing the transit of Venus, which will occur in
December, 1874. Eight parties of five persons each will be dispatched;
four to stations in the Southern Hemisphere, and the others to the
Northern. Those going south of the Equator will leave New York next
spring in a naval vessel, specially prepared and fitted for their
accommodation, while others will probably proceed to their stations by
mail-steamer. The posts in the Southern Hemisphere will be on the
Kerguelen Islands, Auckland and Van Diemen’s Land. In the northern
station they will be located at Yokohama, Nangasaki, Shanghai, and near
the Siberian border.
After the transit, the observers in the Southern Hemisphere will be
collected by a Government ship, transported to Japan, and sent home by
mail-steamer. The whole expedition will probably occupy a year at least.
Each party will include astronomers and photographer, with a complete
equipment and apparatus for obtaining perfect observations and a record
of the transit. Prof. Harkness will have charge of the parties and
observations in the Southern Hemisphere, and Prof. Newcomb of those in
the Northern. The object of the observation, for which Congress has
appropriated $150,000, is to determine more accurately the distance
between the earth and the sun, and the Professors at the head of the
expedition expect to be able to settle the distance within half a
million of miles.
In July, 1789, Congress organized a “Department of Foreign Affairs,” and
placed it in charge of a secretary, who was called the “Secretary of the
Department of Foreign Affairs.” He was required to discharge his duties
“conformably to the instructions of the President,” but as his powers
were derived from Congress, he was required to hold himself amenable to
that body, to attend its sessions, and to “explain all matters
pertaining to his province.” In September, 1779, Congress changed the
title of the department to the “Department of State,” and made a
definite enumeration of the duties of the Secretary.
The head of the Department is the Secretary-of-State. His subordinates
are: an Assistant Secretary-of-State, a Chief-Clerk, a Superintendent of
Statistics, a Translator, a Librarian, and as many clerks as are needed.
The Secretary receives a salary of $8,000 per annum. He conducts all the
intercourse of this Government with the governments of foreign
countries, and is frequently required to take a prominent part in the
administration of domestic affairs. He countersigns all proclamations
and official documents issued by the President. If popular rumor be
correct, the Secretaries-of-State have frequently written the messages
and inaugurals of the Presidents, and thus have kept those august
personages from making laughing-stocks of themselves.
The duties of the office require the exercise of the highest ability,
and the Secretaries-of-State have usually been among the first statesmen
of our country. The first incumbent of the office was Thomas Jefferson,
and the present Secretary is the Hon. Hamilton Fish, of New York.
The Diplomatic-Bureau is in charge of, and conducts all the official
correspondence between the Department and the ministers and other agents
of the United States residing abroad, and the representatives of foreign
powers accredited to this Government. It is in this Bureau that all
instructions sent from the Department, and communications to
commissioners under treaties of boundaries, etc., are prepared, copied,
and recorded; all similar communications received by the Department are
registered and filed in this Bureau, and their contents are entered in
an analytical table or index.
The Consular-Bureau has charge of all correspondence and other business
between the Department and the consuls and commercial agents of the
United States. Applications for such positions are received and attended
to in this Bureau. A concise record of all its transactions is kept by
the clerk in charge of it.
The Disbursing-Agent has charge of all correspondence and other business
relating to any and all expenditures of money with which the Department
is charged.
The Translator is required to furnish translations of such documents as
may be submitted to him by the proper officers of the Department. He
also records the commissions of the consuls and the vice-consuls, when
not in English, upon which exequaturs are based.
The Clerk of Appointments and Commissions makes out and keeps a record
of all commissions, letters of appointment, and nominations to the
Senate; makes out and keeps a record of all exequaturs, and when in
English, the commissions on which they are issued. He also has charge of
the Library of the Department, which is large and valuable.
The Clerk of the Rolls and Archives has charge of the “rolls,” by which
are meant the enrolled acts and resolutions of Congress, as they are
received by the Department by the President. When authenticated copies
thereof are called for, he prepares them. He also prepares these acts
and resolutions, and the various treaties negotiated, for publication in
the newspapers and in book form, and superintends their passage through
the press. He distributes through the United States the various
publications of the Department, and receives and answers all letters
relating thereto. He has charge of all treaties with the Indian tribes,
and all business relating to them.
The Clerk of Authentications is in charge of the Seals of the United
States and of the Department, and prepares and attaches certificates to
papers presented for authentication; receives and accounts for the fees;
and records the correspondence of the Department, except the diplomatic
and consular letters. He also has charge of all correspondence relating
to territorial affairs.
The Clerk of Pardons and Passports prepares and records pardons and
remissions of sentences by the President; and registers and files the
papers and petitions upon which they are founded. He makes out and
records passports, and keeps a daily register of letters received, other
than diplomatic and consular, and the disposition made of them. He also
has charge of the correspondence relating to his business.
The Superintendent of Statistics prepares the “Annual Report of the
Secretary of State and Foreign commerce,” as required by the acts of
1842 and 1856.
CHAPTER XLVI.
INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE—THE STORY OF A “PUB. DOC.”—WOMEN
WORKERS.
Another Government Hive—The Largest Printing Establishment in the
World—Judge Douglass’s Villa—The Celebrated “Pub. Doc.”—“Making Many
Books”—The Convenience of a “Frank”—The Omnipresent “Doc.”—A
Weariness to the Flesh—An Average “Doc.”—A Personal Experience—What
the Nation’s Printing Costs—“Not Worth the Paper”—A Melancholy
Fact—Two Sides of the Question—Invaluable “Pub. Docs.”—Printing a
Million Money-Orders—The Stereotype Foundry—A Few Figures—The
Government Printing-Office—A Model Office—Aiding Human Labor—Working
by Machinery—The Ink-Room—The Private Offices—Mr. Clapp’s
Comfortable Office—The Proof-Reading Room—The Workers There—The
Compositors’ Room—The Women-Workers—Setting Up Her Daily Task—A
Quiet Spot for the Executive Printing—The Tricks and Stratagems of
Correspondents—A Private Press in the White House—The Supreme Pride
of a Congressional Printer—Rule-and-Figure Work—The Executive
Binding-Room—Acres of Paper—Specimens of Binding—The “Most Beautiful
Binding in the World”—Specimen Copies—Binding the Surgical History
of the War—The Ladies Require a Little More Air—Delicate Gold-Leaf
Work—The Folding-Room—An Army of Maidens—The Stitching-Room—The
Needles of Women—A Busy Girl at Work—“Thirty Cents Apiece” Getting
Used to it—The Girl Over Yonder—The Manual Labor System—The Story of
a “Pub. Doc.”—Preparing “Copy”—“Setting Up”—Making-Up
“Forms”—Reading “Proof”—The Press-Room—Going to Press—Folding,
Stitching, and Binding—Sent Out to “the Wide, Wide World.”
Getting into the airy little Boundary car at Fifteenth street, it soon
brings us far out on H street to another busy Government hive—the
largest printing establishment in the world.
As late as 1859, the Government Printing-Office stood upon the suburbs.
“Judge Douglass’s Villa” was then one of the mile-stones which marked
the road thither, leading through grassy fields to the youngest
_faubourg_ of the capital. Closely-built metropolitan blocks already
stretch far beyond it, and the great Public Printing-Office no longer
stands on the “edge” of the city.
There is nothing so plenty in Washington, not even Congressmen, as the
“Pub. Doc.” We see it everywhere, and in every shape. Piles on piles of
huge unbound pamphlets, cumber and crowd the narrow lodgings of the
average Congressman, waiting the superscription, and formerly the
“frank,” which was to convey each one to ten thousand dear constituents.
They cram every available nook, “up stairs, down stairs, and in my
lady’s chamber.” They are patent receptacles for the dust, which defies
extermination. They overflow every public archive, and, falling down and
running over, demand that greater shall be builded. Thousands on
thousands have no covers, and tens of thousands more are clad in purple
and fine linen. The average Public Doc. is a weariness to flesh and
spirit. You get tired of the sight—so many, so many! And as for the
knowledge which it contains, it may be of infinite value to mankind, but
the pursuit of it through endless tables, reports, briefs and statements
is a weariness to the soul. I have tried it and know. If I had not, you
might never have known how many of these “Pub. Doc’s” are printed by the
Government, what for, and at what cost.
Well, I will give you a few items in figures, as they appear on the
books of the office. Of all executive and miscellaneous documents and
reports of Committees, there were printed in the Government
Printing-Office, last year, one thousand six hundred and twenty-five
copies for the Senate, and one thousand six hundred and fifty for the
House, also eight hundred and twenty-five copies of bills and
resolutions for the Senate and House each.
Statement showing the cost of Public Printing done in the Government
Printing-Office in the year 1872:
══════════════════════╤═════════════════════╤══════════╤══════════╤════════════
│ Printing and Paper │Total cost│ Blank │ Aggregate
Department. │ for same. │ of │ books, │ cost of
│ ─────────│──────────│ printing │ binding, │ printing,
│ Printing │ Paper. │ and │ ruling, │ paper
│ │ │ paper. │ etc. │and binding.
──────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────
State Department │ $8,445 45│ $4,244 40│$12,689 85│$11,416 55│ $24,106 40
Treasury Department │141,933 17│ 65,809 27│207,742 44│115,119 06│ 322,861 50
Interior Department │128,414 53│ 37,593 76│166,008 29│ 59,789 71│ 225,798 00
War Department │ 45,171 69│ 29,049 83│ 74,221 52│ 68,184 57│ 142,406 09
Navy Department │ 52,156 77│ 12,302 95│ 64,459 72│ 23,541 68│ 88,001 40
Judiciary Department │ 38,303 02│ 1,219 37│ 39,522 39│ 2,951 02│ 42,473 41
Post-Office Department│ 81,301 63│ 46,817 28│128,118 91│ 39,247 44│ 167,366 35
Department of Agri- │ 9,828 29│ 7,59 77│ 17,428 06│ 4,362 39│ 21,790 45
culture │ │ │ │ │
Office of Congres- │ 1,077 43│ 135 54│ 1,212 97│ 290 45│ 1,503 42
sional Printer │ │ │ │ │
──────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────
Total │506,631 98│204,772 17│711,404 15│324,902 87│1,036,307 02
══════════════════════╧══════════╧══════════╧══════════╧══════════╧════════════
Tens of thousands of public documents are published here whose intrinsic
value is not worth the paper they are printed on. After witnessing the
manual labor expended on them, it is melancholy to reflect that, with it
all, they are often less valuable than the unsullied paper would be.
While this is true of an immense number of “bills” and documents, and
reports of contested election cases printed in this building, it is
equally true that thousands of others are published here which are of
extreme value not only to the Government but the world.
It is through the presses of the Government Printing-House that the
public is informed what the Government is doing for science and for
philanthropy. It prints all the reports of the Smithsonian Institution;
Professor Hayden’s reports of yearly United States Geological Surveys,
including his very interesting and valuable reports on Wyoming, Montana,
Nebraska, and the famous Yellowstone Valley. The Medical Reports of the
War; Surgeon-General Barnes’ Medical and Surgical History of the War;
and Chief-Medical-Purveyor Baxter’s Report of the Medical Statistics of
the Provost-Marshal-General’s Bureau; Reports on the Diseases of Cattle
in the United States; on Mines and Mining; Postal Code and Coast-Survey
Reports; Reports of Commission of Education; of the Commissioner of the
United States to the International Penitentiary Congress at London;
Reports of the Government Institution for Deaf and Dumb and the Insane,
etc.
These make a very small proportion of the really interesting and
valuable reports issued yearly by the Government.
When we remember that many of these works are accompanied by copious
maps and illustrations, and that the processes of photolithographing,
lithographing and engraving are all executed within these walls, you can
form some estimate of the value of its services to the country.
The demands made upon it by each single department of the Government is
immense. The Post-Office will send in a single order for the printing of
one million money-orders; and the other departments cry out to have
their wants supplied in the same proportion.
The Stereotype Foundry, under the same roof, long ago vindicated itself
in the facts of convenience and economy. The following is a correct
exhibit of the product of its labor for the year ending September 30,
1872:
Value of plates, &c., manufactured, at trade-prices, $35,371 08
Amount expended for labor and material consumed, 16,516 80
—————
Net saving to the Government, $18,854 28
The Government Printing-Office, from an external view, is a large, long,
plain brick building of four stories, with a cupola in the centre, and
flag-staffs at either end, from which the National banner floats on gala
days. If we enter from H street, a large open door on the side reveals
to us at once the power-press room, with its wheels and belts; its
women-workers and its mighty engine. This engine of eighty-horse power,
swings its giant lever to and fro, with the accuracy of a chronometer.
The boiler which supplies its steam-power is placed in a separate
building, so that in case of explosion the danger to human life would be
lessened. This boiler also supplies steam for heating the entire main
building, and for propelling a “donkey engine,” which performs the more
menial labor of pumping water.
This is not only the largest, but is one of the model printing-houses of
the world. Its typographical arrangements are perfect, and in each
department it is supplied with every appliance of ingenious and
exquisite mechanism to save human muscle and to aid human labor. In the
press-room, stretching before and on either side of the majestic engine,
we see scores of ponderous presses, their swiftly-flying rollers moving
with the perfect time of a watch—at each revolution clinching the
unsullied sheet of paper which, in an instant more, it tosses forth a
printed page.
When Benjamin Franklin tugged away at the little printing-press now
exhibited at the Patent-Office, an enormous amount of human muscle was
needed to perform press-work; but now, without effort and without
fatigue, the tireless engine supplies the material power, while women do
the work. On the lower floor of the main building we find the wetting
room, filled with troughs and all the liquids for dampening the immense
supply of paper, beside the hydraulic presses for smoothing it. On this
floor also is the “ink room,” with its vast supplies of “lamp-black and
oil” always ready for the rollers.
Ascending to the second story we come to the business and private
offices of the Government Printer—his clerks, telegraph-operators,
copy-holders, and proof-readers. Mr. A. M. Clapp, a man of clear
intellectual out-look, of benign expression and venerable years,
occupies a pleasant parlor for an office, furnished with plain desk,
chairs, a mirror, engravings and a Brussels’ carpet; it opens into a
_suite_ of rooms occupied by the Chief-Clerk, the Paymaster and the
Telegraph-Operator.
On the other side of the hall, we pass the open door of the
proof-reading room. This is comfortably filled with men, young and old.
The copy-holder and the proof-reader sit side by side, before a table or
desk. The copy-holder has in his hands the original manuscript, from
which he slowly reads, while the proof-reader listens, proof-sheets and
pencil in hand, erasing each error in print as he detects it, from the
lips of the copy-holder. The proof-reader is paid $26, the copy-holder
$24 per week.
Ascending a few steps, we come into the composition room, occupying the
central and larger portion of the second story. It contains sixty or
more windows, is spacious and well-lighted, and yet, especially in the
winter, when the windows are closed and the heat necessarily intense,
the fumes from the chemicals render the work very unhealthy, especially
to some constitutions. Long rows of double stands reach the entire
length of the apartment.
At every one of these stands a patient worker—he must be patient if he
is a faithful type-setter. Here are men past their prime, young men,
boys and one woman. There have been three. One left her stand for a
husband, another—Miss Mary Green—left hers to become the editor of a
real-estate journal in Indianapolis, Indiana. The third, in neat calico
dress and apron, stands beside a window, “setting up” her daily task.
The pay of women in this room is the same as that of the men, viz., $24
per week.
A portion of this floor is shut in for the executive printing. This was
made necessary by the fact that before it was done, the country found
out what was in the president’s message before it was published. Such
tricks and stratagems were used by “correspondents” to discover in
advance what was in the president’s message, that one president had a
press, types and workmen brought into the White House, that he might
have his message confidentially printed, and “keep it to himself” till
he was ready to give it to the world.
The supreme pride of these congressional printers is their
“rule-and-figure work.” Confused tables of Commercial statistics,
astronomical calculations, and abstracts of Government estimates, are
marshalled into columns with the precision of a well-trained brigade.
The executive binding-room is fitted up with powerful machines for
trimming the edges of books, shears for cutting pasteboard, etc. Here
stands a man who does nothing, from the beginning to the end of the
year, but cut book-covers. In another room are “ruling machines,”
exquisite pieces of mechanism, which trace, in a year, acres of paper
with the delicate red, blue or black lines which rule with mathematical
accuracy the blank-books of the Government.
The third floor is almost exclusively devoted to binding. Some of the
most beautifully bound books in the world here issue from the hands of
the Government bindery. There are always specimen-copies of scientific
and other important reports, which are bound in Turkey morocco, finely
marbled and exquisitely gilded. The first volume of the
Surgeon-General’s Medical and Surgical History of the War, on the day of
our visit, was receiving this artistic finish, of delicate gold leaf,
stamped upon the rich, dark-green morocco.
The furnaces for heating the stamps, for gilding, are heated by gas,
which is considered safer, cleaner and healthier than charcoal. Still
the ladies employed in this gold-leaf work suffer for want of air. The
hottest summer day the windows have to remain closed, as the lightest
zephyr may ruffle fatally the mimosa edges of the tremulous foil.
In the folding-room, on this floor, we find an army of maidens, whose
deft and flying fingers fold the sheets, and make them ready for the
binder. In the new wing beyond we come into the “stitching-room.” Here
also the busy fingers and needles of women fly. Long rows of women,
chiefly young girls, sit at tables beside wire frames, which hold down
and mark the piled-up folios.
Standing beside a young slender girl, she seemed to have the St. Vitus’
dance. Every muscle and nerve in her body flew. The very nerves in her
face twitched with the quick intensity of her movement; while her
fingers stuck the needle and drew the thread with the persistency of a
perpetual motion.
“You should be paid good wages to work like this,” I said.
“It is because I am paid so little that I have to work like this,” she
answered, not relaxing an atom.
“How much?”
“Thirty cents a-piece.”
“How many can you stitch a day?”
“Well, if I work like this all day, nine.”
“But I should think it would kill you to work like this all the time.”
“I’ve been doing it for four years, and I’m not dead yet.”
I did not inform her that she looked as if she soon would be, but asked,
“Doesn’t such constant, quick action give you pain?”
“Yes, in my shoulders, but I’ve got used to it.”
“Does any one else in this room stitch as fast as you do?”
“Only one,” said a smiling girl who rested with her needle in her mouth
to admire her dextrous companion. “There is only one other who can work
as fast as she; it is that girl, over yonder.”
There are no drones in this busy hive. The whole routine is based upon
the manual labor system. The Government _employé_, man or woman, in the
Government Printing-Office, instead of from 9 A. M to 3 P. M., as in all
other departments, works from 8 A. M. to 5 P. M., and for smaller pay,
proportionally, than is received in any other public Bureau.
Having told you the story of a Dollar, I will now tell that of a “Pub.
Doc.”—hoping that the next time you feel inclined to kick it for the
dust it gathers, and the room it takes up, you will forgive it these
misfortunes, for the sake of the many busy and patient human hands which
fashioned it.
First, it appears in the room of the Government Printer in the shape of
a huge pile of manuscript. Perhaps it is in copper-plate hand, “plain as
print;” perhaps, as is more likely, it is a bundle of unsightly
hieroglyphics written on “rags and tags” of paper of all sorts and
sizes. However it looks, in due time it appears in the composing-room,
accompanied with the directions of the Government Printer. It is
received by the foreman, who divides it into portions, or “takes,” and
it is now “copy.”
This copy is put in the hands of compositors, who place it, every word
and figure, into what is called a “composing stick.” When these are
filled with the set-up type, they are emptied on wooden boards called
“galleys.” Here the type is divided into pages, each one of which is
tied round with twine so that it can be carried away by a practiced
hand. These pages are now arranged on the imposing-stones, either by
fours or by eights, or by twelves, as the work is to be printed in
quarto, in octavo, or in duodecimo form. The pages are so regulated that
when the printed sheet is folded, they will read consecutively, and they
are then wedged tightly in a “chase,” or frame of iron. These pages of
type thus placed are called “forms.”
A rough impression of a form having been printed, it is given to the
proof-reader, who, with the copy-holder, notes all errors with printers’
marks. The compositor next receives these corrected pages; re-sets all
wrong letters with the right ones. When he has finished, he takes a
second proof impression, called a revise, which the proof-reader
compares with the first one, to see if all the errors have been
accurately corrected. This process of revising is repeated four times,
when the form is at last ready for the press.
It is then lowered by steam-power into the press-room. The form is laid
upon a smooth iron table, called “the bed of the press,” where it is
treated to a good beating. It is levelled by a block of wood called a
planer, and pounded with a mallet, that no aspiring type may stick its
nose above its fellows, and mar the perfect level of the printed page.
Meanwhile, a sufficient quantity of paper has been taken from the public
store-house to the wetting-room. There it has been dampened, quire by
quire, turned and laid in piles under the crushing pressure of an
hydraulic-pump, worked by steam-power. When taken out the paper is ready
for the press.
The rollers are brought from the room in which they are cleaned and
kept, and set in the press. The ink fountain is filled. Sheet on sheet
of spotless paper is placed aloft. The young woman who is to “tend”
mounts to her perch. The steam-power is applied, and the printing
begins.
The maiden takes in her hand a single snowy sheet, and spreads it on the
inclined plane before her. It is caught by steel fingers and clutched
into the abyss beneath. There it passes swiftly over the pages of type
just moistened with ink from the rollers, which were previously coated
by revolving cylinders. When the sheet is directly above the type, its
flight is for an instant stayed, and by a potent mechanical movement the
impression is given, and the sheet is printed. Onward it moves
transfigured, till, by the puff of a pair of bellows, it is thrown upon
a frame-work which throws it, smooth and fresh, upon a table on the
opposite side of the table, and by this time another is on its way.
Swiftly almost as thought it is tossed above it. In a briefer time than
the process is traced, the unsullied sheets above have been transmuted
into printed pages piled upon the table below.
Only one side of a sheet is printed at a time; thus each one goes
through the press twice before it leaves the press-room. Each sheet has
its own special care. It is carried into the drying-room with a pile.
Each one takes its place on a large frame which is pulled out on hanging
rollers. When one of these frames is covered with damp sheets it is
pushed into the drying-machine, which is made of ranges of steam tubes,
which keep a high temperature, while the vapor is carried off by a
system of ventilation.
When the sheets are dried, the frames are pulled out, and the printed
sheets are taken from them to be pressed. Each printed sheet is put
between two sheets of hard, smooth pasteboard, and its high piles of
alternate layers are subjected again to the intense power of the
hydraulic-press. It comes forth from that embrace smooth, clear,
complete.
From the pressing-room the sheets are taken to the folding-room in the
third story, conveyed thither by an elevator lifted by steam. Here they
are folded by the swift hands of girls. Hundreds are busy at it. Looking
down the long room and seeing them work is a sight worth quite a journey
to see. The folded pages then pass to the fingers of the eager
stitchers. These pages are now a book in need of a binding. Thus it
comes into the bindery for its black cotton cloak, or its coat of cloth
of gold, according to its station and lot in life.
This, good friends, is the story of a Pub. Doc. from its birth to the
hour when it starts on its first journey out into “the wide, wide
world.”
CHAPTER XLVII.
INSIDE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—ITS TREASURES OF ART AND SCIENCE—THE
LARGEST COLLECTION IN THE WORLD.
A Singular Bequest—Strange Story of James Smithson—A Good Use of
Money—Seeking the Diffusion of Knowledge—Catching a Tear from a
Lady’s Cheek—Analysis of the Same Tear—The Attainments of a
Philosopher—A brief Tract on Coffee-Making—James Smithson’s
Will—A Genealogical Declaration—Announcing a Bequest to
Congress—Discussions and Reports—Praiseworthy Efforts of Robert
Dale Owen—The Bequest Accepted—The Board of Regents—The Plan of
the Institution—Its Intent and Object—Changes Made by the
Regents—_Ex-Officio_ Members of the Institution—“The Power
Behind the Throne”—The Secretary—The Smithsonian Reservation—The
Smithsonian Building—Its Style of Architecture—Inside the
Building—Injuries Received by Fire—Loss of Works of Art—The
Museum—Treasures of Art and Science—The Results of Thirty
Government Expeditions—The Largest Collection in the
World—Valuable Mineral Specimens—All the Vertebrated Animals of
North America—Classified Curiosities—The Smithsonian
Contributions—Comprehensive Character of the Institution—Its
Advantages and Operations—Results—The Agricultural Bureau—Its
Plan and Object—Collecting Valuable Agricultural Facts—Helping
the Purchaser of a Farm—The Expenses of the Bureau—The
Library—Nature-Printing—In the Museum—The Great California
Plank—Vegetable Specimens—International Exchanges.
An Englishman, of the name of James Smithson, gave all his property to
the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of
the Smithsonian Institution, “an establishment for the increase and
diffusion of knowledge among men.”
But few are aware of the singularity of the bequest. Such a donation,
from a citizen of Europe, would be remarkable under any circumstances;
but it was much more singular coming from an Englishman, endued with no
small degree of pride of country and lineage, if we may judge from the
pains he takes, in the caption of his will, to detail his descent from
the nobility. He is not known to have ever visited the United States, or
to have had any friends residing here. Mr. Rush informs us that he was a
natural son of the Duke of Northumberland, his mother being Mrs. Macie,
of an ancient family in Wiltshire, of the name of Hungerford; he was
educated at Oxford, where he took an honorary degree. In 1786, he took
the name of James Lewis Macie, until a few years after he left the
University, when he changed it to Smithson. He does not appear to have
had any fixed home, living in lodgings when in London, and occasionally,
a year or two at a time, in the cities on the continent, as Paris,
Berlin, Florence, and Genoa; at which last place he died. The ample
provision made for him by the Duke of Northumberland, with retired and
simple habits, enabled him to accumulate the fortune which passed to the
United States. He interested himself little in questions of government,
being devoted to science, and chiefly to chemistry. This had introduced
him to the society of Cavendish, Wollaston, and others, advantageously
known to the Royal Society in London, of which he was a member.
In a paper relative to one of the publications of the Smithsonian
Institution, read before a scientific society at Dublin, it is stated,
on the authority of Chambers’ Journal, that he had gained a name by the
analysis of minute quantities, and that “it was he who caught a tear as
it fell from a lady’s cheek, and detected the salts and other substances
which it held in solution.”
In a notice of his scientific pursuits, by Professor Johnson, of
Philadelphia, there are enumerated twenty-four papers, or treatises by
Smithson, published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, and other
scientific journals of the day, containing articles on mineralogy,
geology, and more especially mineral chemistry. In the Annals of
Philosophy (Vol. 22, page 30) he has a brief tract on the method of
making coffee. The small case of his personal effects, which is to be
preserved in a separate apartment of the Institution, consists chiefly
of minerals and chemical apparatus.
The will indicates a degree of sensitiveness on the subject of his
illegitimacy. He starts with a declaration of pedigree:
I, James Smithson, son of Hough, first Duke of Northumberland, and
Elizabeth, heiress of the Hungerfords of Audley, and niece of Charles
the Proud, Duke of Somerset, now residing in Bentinck street,
Cavendish Square, do make this my last will and testament,....
“To found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian
Institution, an establishment FOR THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF
KNOWLEDGE AMONG MEN.”
The bequest was first announced to Congress by President Jackson, in
1835. Long discussions and reports followed; first, upon the propriety
of accepting the trust; and next, upon the kind of institution to be
established; in the course of which the ablest minds in the country, in
and out of Congress, gave expression to their views. The report of Mr.
Adams was particularly eloquent. The objection to receiving the bequest
was based mainly upon the alleged absence of constitutional power, but
partly upon policy.
The discussion as to the kind of institution which would best fulfil the
testator’s intention, extended through a series of years, and led to
almost every possible proposition. I shall not attempt to give even an
outline of these debates, which finally culminated in the adoption of a
somewhat mixed scheme, allowing of almost anything. To Robert Dale Owen,
of Indiana, is mainly due the credit of finally pressing the bill to a
vote. The Act required that there be provided a hall or halls for a
library, a museum, a chemical laboratory, necessary lecture-rooms, and a
gallery of art.
The Board of Regents, in whose hands the control of the institution is
vested, drew up the following general plan, upon which the operations of
the institution have been conducted, this plan being, in their judgment,
best calculated to carry into effect the wishes of the founder:
To Increase Knowledge: It is proposed—first, to stimulate men of
talent to make original researches, by offering suitable rewards for
memoirs containing new truths; and, second, to appropriate annually a
portion of the income for particular researches, under the direction
of suitable persons.
To Diffuse Knowledge: It is proposed—first, to publish a series of
periodical reports on the progress of the different branches of
knowledge; and, second, to publish occasionally separate treatises on
subjects of general interest.
Details of Plan to Increase Knowledge by Stimulating Researches:
First, facilities to be afforded for the production of original
memoirs on all branches of knowledge. Second, the memoirs thus
obtained to be published in a series of volumes, in a quarto form, and
entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Third, no memoir, on
subjects of physical science, to be accepted for publication, which
does not furnish a positive addition to human knowledge, resting on
original research; and all unverified speculations to be rejected.
Fourth, each memoir presented to the institution to be submitted for
examination to a commission of persons of reputation for learning in
the branch to which the memoir pertains, and to be accepted for
publication only in case the report of this commission is favorable.
Fifth, the Commission to be chosen by officers of the Institution, and
the name of the author, as far as practicable, concealed, unless a
favorable decision be made. Sixth, the volumes of the memoirs to be
changed for the transactions of literary and scientific societies, and
copies to be given to all the colleges and principal libraries in this
country. One part of the remaining copies may be offered for sale, and
the other carefully preserved, to form complete sets of the work to
supply the demand for new institutions. Seventh, an abstract, or
popular account, of the contents of these memoirs, to be given to the
public through the annual reports of the Regents to Congress.
By Appropriating a Part of the Income, Annually, to Special Objects of
Research, under the Direction of Suitable Persons: First, the objects,
and the amount appropriated, to be recommended by Councillors of the
Institution. Second, appropriations in different years to different
objects; so that, in course of time, each branch of knowledge may
receive a share. Third, the results obtained from these appropriations
to be published, with the memoirs before mentioned, in the volumes of
the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Fourth, examples of
objects for which appropriations may be made: 1. System of extended
meteorological observations for solving the problem of American
storms; 2. Explorations in descriptive natural history, and
geological, magnetical, and topographical surveys, to collect
materials for the formation of a physical atlas of the United States;
3. Solution of experimental problems, such as a new determination of
the weight of the earth, of the velocity of electricity and of light;
chemical analyses of soils and plants; collection and publication of
scientific facts accumulated in the offices of Government; 4.
Institution of statistical inquiries with reference to physical,
moral, and political subjects; 5. Historical researches, and accurate
surveys of places celebrated in American history; 6. Ethnological
researches, particularly with reference to the different races of men
in North America; also, explorations and accurate surveys of the
mounds and other remains of the ancient people of our country.
Details of the Plan for Diffusing Knowledge: First, by the publication
of a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in
science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of
knowledge, not strictly professional. These reports will diffuse a
kind of knowledge generally interesting, but which, at present, is
inaccessible to the public. Some reports may be published annually,
others at longer intervals, as the income of the Institution or the
changes in the branches of knowledge may indicate. Second, the reports
are to be prepared by collaborators eminent in the different branches
of knowledge. Third, each collaborator to be furnished with the
journals and publications, domestic and foreign, necessary to the
compilation of his report; to be paid a certain sum for his labors,
and to be named on the title-page of the report. Fourth, the reports
to be published in separate parts, so that persons interested in a
particular branch can procure the parts relating to it without
purchasing the whole. Fifth, these reports may be presented to
Congress for partial distribution, the remaining copies to be given to
literary and scientific institutions, and sold to individuals for a
moderate price.
By the Publication of Separate Treatises on Subjects of General
Interest: First, these treatises may occasionally consist of valuable
memoirs translated from foreign languages, or of articles prepared
under the direction of the Institution, or procured by offering
premiums for the best exposition of a given subject. Second, the
treatises should, in all cases, be submitted to a commission of
competent judges, previous to their publication.
“The only changes made in the policy above indicated have been the
passage of resolutions, by the Regents, repealing the equal division of
the income between the active operations and the museum and library, and
further providing that the annual appropriations are to be apportioned
specifically among the different objects and operations of the
Institution, in such manner as may, in the judgment of the Regents, be
necessary and proper for each, according to its intrinsic importance,
and a compliance in good faith with the law.”
The Act of Congress, organizing the Institution, makes the President and
Vice-President of the United States, the Cabinet Ministers, the
Chief-Justice of the United States, the Cabinet Ministers and the Mayor
of Washington, members _ex officio_ of the Institution. The Board of
Regents charged with the control of the Institution, consists of the
President of the United States, the Mayor of Washington, three Senators
of the United States, three members of the House of Representatives, who
are _ex officio_ Regents, six persons, not members of Congress, two of
whom must be citizens of Washington, and members of the National
Institute of that city, and the other four citizens of any of the states
of the Union, no two of whom are to be chosen from the same state. The
Board of Regents make annual reports of their conduct of the Institution
to Congress.
The real “power behind the throne” is the Secretary of the Institution,
who is executive officer. He has charge of the edifice, its contents,
and the grounds, and is given as many assistants, as are necessary to
enable him to conduct the varied operations of the Institution. The
property of the Institution is placed under the protection of the laws
for the preservation and safe keeping of the public buildings and
grounds of the City of Washington.
Upon the organization of the Institution, Congress set apart for its use
a portion of the public ground lying westward of the Capitol, and
between it and the Potomac River. Fifty-two acres comprised the grant,
which was known as the “Smithsonian Reservation.” They were laid out
under the supervision of Andrew Jackson Downing. He died while engaged
in this work, and his memory is perpetuated by a memorial erected in the
grounds in 1852, by the American Pomological Society, and consisting of
a massive vase resting on a handsome pedestal, with appropriate
inscriptions, the whole being of the finest Italian marble.
The building is situated near the centre of the grounds as they
originally existed, the centre of the edifice being immediately opposite
Tenth Street west. It is constructed of a fine quality of lilac-gray
freestone, found in the new red sandstone formation, where it crosses
the Potomac, near the mouth of Seneca Creek, one of the tributaries of
that river, and about twenty-three miles above Washington. The stone is
very soft at first, and is quarried with comparative ease. In its fresh
state, it may be worked with the chisel and mallet; but it hardens
rapidly upon exposure to the air and weather, and will withstand, after
a time, the severest usage.
The structure is in the style of architecture belonging to the last half
of the twelfth century, the latest variety of rounded style, as it is
found immediately anterior to its merging into the early Gothic, and is
known as the Norman, the Lombard, or Romanesque. The semi-circular arch,
stilted, is employed throughout, in door, windows, and other openings.
The main building is 205 feet long by 57 feet wide, and to the top of
the corbel course, 58 feet high. The east wing is 82 by 52 feet, and to
the top of its battlement, 42½ feet high. The west wing, including its
projecting apsis, is 84 by 40 feet, and 38 feet high. Each of the wings
is connected with the main building by a range which, including its
cloisters, is 60 feet long by 49 feet wide. This makes the length of the
entire building, from east to west, 447 feet. Its greatest breadth is
160 feet.
The north front of the main building has two central towers, the
loftiest of which is 150 feet high. It has also a broad, covered
carriage-way, upon which opens the main entrance to the building. The
south central tower is 37 feet square, 91 feet high, and massively
constructed. A double campanile tower, 17 feet square, 117 feet high,
rises from the north-east corner of the main building; and the
south-west corner has an imposing octagonal tower, in which is a spiral
stair-way, leading to the summit. There are four other smaller towers of
lesser hights, making nine in all, the effect of which is very
beautiful, and which once caused a wit to remark that it seemed to him
as if a “collection of church steeples had gotten lost, and were
consulting together as to the best means of getting home to their
respective churches.”
The building was much injured by fire in January, 1865. The flames
destroyed the upper part of the main buildings, and the towers. Although
the lower story was saved, the valuable official, scientific, and
miscellaneous correspondence, record-books, and manuscripts in the
Secretary’s office, the large collection of scientific apparatus, the
personal effects of James Smithson, Stanley’s Collection of Indian
Portraits, and much other valuable property were destroyed. Fortunately,
the Library, Museum, and Laboratory were uninjured. The fire made no
interruption in the practical workings of the Institution, and in a
comparatively short space of time the burned portions were restored.
The museum occupies the ground-floor, and is the principal attraction to
a large portion of the visitors. It is a spacious hall, containing two
tiers of cases, in which are placed the specimens on exhibition. Access
to the upper tier of cases is had by means of a light iron gallery,
which is reached by stair-ways of the same material. The Official Guide
to the Institution, thus describes the Museum:
Under these provisions, the Institution has received and taken charge of
such Government collections in mineralogy, geology and natural history,
as have been made since its organization. The amount of these has been
very great, as all the United States geological, boundary, and railroad
surveys, with the various topographical, military, and naval
explorations, have been, to a greater or less extent, ordered to make
such collections as would illustrate the physical and natural history
features of the regions traversed.
Of the collections made by thirty Government expeditions, those of
twenty-five are now deposited with the Smithsonian Institution,
embracing more than five-sixths of the whole amount of materials
collected. The principle expeditions thus furnishing collections are the
United States Geological Surveys of Doctors Owen, Jackson, and Evans,
and Messrs Foster and Whitney; the United States and Mexican boundary
survey; the Pacific Railroad survey; the exploration of the Yellowstone,
by Lieutenant Warren; the survey of Lieutenant Bryant; The United States
naval astronomical expedition; the North Pacific Behring’s Strait
expedition; the Japan expedition, and Paraguay expedition.
The Institution has also received, from other sources, collections of
greater or less extent, from various portions of North America, tending
to complete the Government series.
The collections thus made, taken as a whole, constitute the largest and
best series of the minerals, fossils, rocks, animals, and plants of the
entire continent of North America, in the world. Many tons of geological
and mineralogical specimens, illustrating the surveys throughout the
West, are embraced therein. There is also a very large collection of
minerals of the mining regions of Northern Mexico, and of New Mexico,
made by a practical Mexican geologist, during a period of twenty-five
years, and furnishing indications of many rich mining localities within
our own borders, yet unknown to the American people.
It includes also, with scarcely an exception, all the vertebrate animals
of North America. The greater part of the mammalia have been arranged in
walnut drawers, made proof against dust and insects. The birds have been
similarly treated, while the reptiles and fish have been classified, as,
to some extent, have also been the shells, minerals, fossils, and
plants.
The Museum hall is quite large enough to contain all the collections
hitherto made, as well as such others as may be assigned to it. No
single room in the country is, perhaps, equal to it in capacity or
adaptation to its purposes, as, by the arrangements now being perfected,
and denoted in the illustration, it is capable of receiving twice as
large a surface of cases as the old Patent-Office hall, and three times
that of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia.
The Smithsonian Contributions are the work of men residing in every part
of the United States. Does an individual think he has the data upon
which to base an important discovery, he communicates his plans to the
Institution. His suggestions are referred to men in other places, who
have made that branch an especial subject of study, and who are not
advised of the author’s name. If they report favorably upon it, the
author is furnished with facilities for pursuing and describing his
investigations. Does he want some book not to be found in the library
nearest his home? The Institution purchases it and loans it to him, to
be returned to the library. His work, when finished, may be invaluable
to a scientific man, but is not in sufficient demand to warrant any
publisher in issuing it. The Institution prints it, with the proper
illustrations, and gives the author the privilege of using the plates in
order to print a copyright for sale. Those published by the Institution
are sent to every great library and to every scientific body in the
world; and those bodies, in return, send back all their publications.
Thus, already, a most valuable library has been collected, containing
books hardly to be found collected together anywhere else in the United
States.
* * * * *
Thirty years ago, the merely nominal sum of $1,000 was, at the instance
of the Commissioner of Patents, Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, devoted by
Congress for the purposes of Agriculture. For two years before, this
patriotic gentleman had been distributing seeds and plants gratuitously,
and for nine years, during his entire term of office, he continued his
good work. His successors in the Patent-Office kept up the practice; but
it was not until 1862 that the Department of Agriculture was formally
organized.
[Illustration:
TROPICAL FRUITS.
INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT CONSERVATORY.—WASHINGTON.
]
It now nominally belongs to the Department of the Interior, but in every
essential is a distinct department in itself.
The beautiful building built expressly for it, and dedicated exclusively
to its uses, terminates one of the finest vistas running out from
Pennsylvania avenue. It stands within the grounds of the Smithsonian
Institution, surrounded by spacious conservatories and wide blooming
gardens—every plant and tree indigenous to our country—from the
luxuriant tropical vegetation of the Southern States, to the dwarfed and
hardy foliage of our northern borders, may be found in its grounds. A
division is devoted to horticulture, and the propagation and
acclimatization of new and foreign species. Studies in ornamentation, in
the best means of hybridizing, budding, pruning and grafting, in
treating diseases of plants and trees, are thoroughly pursued in the
experimental gardens. Seeds of new varieties and of superior quality, as
soon as they are obtained, are freely distributed throughout the
country, on application to the Commissioner of Agriculture.