The system of weights and measures in use throughout the country is largely due to the patient labor of the Coast Survey. Required by law to have standards of length, the only bureau in the public service that required such a measure of precision, it was in the natural order of events that the Superintendent of the Survey should also be charged with the maintenance of standards of Weight and Capacity. The duplication of standards for the use of the people was begun under Mr. Hassler, so long ago that the system has really grown with the population. Wise legislation has fostered the sentiment of uniformity until we are indeed blessed, that wherever we may be in all our broad domain, a pound is a pound, a yard is a yard, and a bushel is a bushel. Manufacturers receive their standards from the Bureau, and in special cases have their products tested and certified. And individuals engaged upon work of great refinement, seek the stamp of the Bureau, also, upon the measures on which they must rely. But so careful is the Bureau to preserve the integrity of its certificate, that the stamp is refused except on weights or measures of approved metal and workmanship. Business men realize in every day life the benefits that have been derived from the simple legislation that inaugurated a supervision over the weights and measures of the country early in her history, though they may have no conception of the endless annoyances they would have been subjected to had the preservation and duplication of standards not been provided for.
The limited time assigned to me will not permit a detailed statement of the researches made by the Bureau in all the different branches of science related to the practical conduct of the work, much less a reference, even, to the many improvements instituted in the practice of surveying. As in the case of the observatories called upon to replace their defective instruments with those more refined, to enable them to furnish star places of sufficient precision to meet the improved method of determining latitude, so has the demand ever been upon the experts employed upon the work in all its branches. The Triangulation, Topography, Hydrography, Astronomy and Magnetics have all passed through several stages of development and improvement in methods and instruments, to meet the requirements put forth by those charged with the conduct of the work, that the full measure of harmony desired should be secured and that they might supply the demands made upon them for information. Imperfect results indicate defects to be remedied, and it is to the credit of those who performed the labor, that they overcame one difficulty after another as they were developed, until now the methods and instruments in the hands of experts, will produce far superior results at a much less cost than was possible at the time the Survey was inaugurated.
The charting of the great ocean currents, has long been an interesting investigation to hydrographers the world over. A sketch of the efforts, projects, and devices that have been resorted to by the Coast Survey in the attempt to unravel the mysteries of the Gulf Stream, would exemplify the continuous demand for improvement and new exertions under which those employed upon the work have always labored, although the full measure of knowledge sought has not yet been obtained. But it is not necessary to enter into these details at this time; let it suffice that many experiments and failures pointed out the path to be followed by subsequent observers, and stimulated to new efforts, until at last appliances have been perfected that have already produced wonders, and it is safe to predict, will ere many years show the ocean currents on the charts of the world with the same relative precision that the currents in a river or harbor can now be indicated. Lieutenant Maury gave us current charts that were a marvel in their day, but his information, or data, was defective, and his conclusions, therefore, only approximate; and how to improve on the data he had, has ever since been the subject of research. The depth of the ocean is necessarily an important factor in the study of its features, as erroneous depths lead to false hypotheses. The introduction by the English of a method of sounding with a wire, has therefore proved an important advance. American officers have perfected the apparatus and severely tested the methods, demonstrating the reliability of the results and the total unreliability of the old deep sea soundings taken with a line. These accurate wire soundings have revealed new facts, disproved old theories and formed new ones to guide future researches. So successful is the improved apparatus that specimens of the bottom of the ocean have been brought up from a depth of five miles. The great value of this system, however, is not confined to the mere ascertainment of depths for the hydrographer and cartographer, as may be readily demonstrated by referring to the reports of the Fish Commissioner. A further step towards improving on Maury's results; the crowning glory that is to shed light on much that has been dark, and trace out those ocean currents we have heretofore vainly endeavored to follow, is found in the invention and devices of a naval officer attached to the Survey, whereby he can anchor the ship in mid-ocean and observe the direction and velocity of the current as from a stationary body, and with a "current meter," also his own invention, determine the same factors hundreds of feet below the surface; thus ascertaining not only the movement at the surface, but the depth of the body of water that moves, and the velocity at various depths, so that finally we have the volume—a quantity—to be followed until it meets other currents or is absorbed in the vast expanse. Already current observations have been recorded with the ship anchored at the great depth of eighteen hundred fathoms; and arrangements have been perfected that it is believed will prove successful at the greater depth of three thousand fathoms. It is impossible with our superficial knowledge of the great ocean currents to estimate the benefits that will be derived from their systematic exploration. It is not probable that the absolute determination of their limits would produce such a revolution in navigation, as was caused by Maury's wind charts, but it is reasonably certain they would prove a valuable assistance to the navigator, and in the great channels and bays of the world increase his facilities for the successful navigation of his ship. Not a little of their value, perhaps the larger part, will be of an indirect nature, resulting from their study by investigators in the natural sciences interested in utilizing the bounties of nature for benefit of man.
The Survey was instituted for the determination of facts, and the presentation of them in an intelligible form. It does not promulgate theories, and has no use for them beyond the assistance they may be in indicating the line of research necessary to ascertain the facts; but rather leaves to the student the formulation of the theories that may be deduced from the facts presented. The publications of the Survey are, therefore, calculated to contain only useful, practical information, on the subjects of which they treat. An examination of them will show this to be the case, and further, that error has more likely been committed by over-caution, than a too free use of the material at command. Doubtless much has been suppressed through lack of means, as it has always been the aim of the Superintendents to expend the appropriations in producing the most useful results, whether in surveys to be made or facts to be published. It necessarily requires many years to complete a precise survey over a large area; and in the work of the Coast Survey, with the people in all sections of our extended coast line petitioning for surveys at the same time, the problem was beset with additional difficulties. Fortunately Congress prescribed the method on which the work should be conducted, and that the method permitted making surveys widely separated with the certainty that they could eventually be joined and form a consistent whole. Soon after the plan of reorganization of 1843 had been adopted, surveying parties were on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts at many points; the principal harbors and headlands with outlying shoals were first surveyed and it was but a few years before charts of them were published. The less important shores between these points were left for future work, but Hydrographic examinations or Nautical surveys, were made of them, and preliminary charts of long stretches of coast were issued, to be followed when the surveys had been completed by the finished chart of reliable data. So elastic was the system adopted for the conduct of the work, that its availability was limited only by the annual appropriations. Soon after the annexation of Texas surveying parties were on that coast, and on the acquisition of California a few years subsequently parties were soon at work there also; and after the close of the war and purchase of Alaska, the immense field thus opened was attacked with equal promptness, and a reconnaissance made that resulted in a map of considerable accuracy. As the precise surveys were extended the charts and plans published from the preliminary surveys were withdrawn, the new charts necessarily having later dates.
The original surveys of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are now practically completed, but very little more remaining to be done in a few comparatively unimportant localities. On the Pacific coast precise surveys supplemented by careful reconnaissance of less important sections, define nearly the whole outline, excepting Alaska, but a great deal of work is still required to obtain the full measure of information necessary to accurately chart it. And in Alaska, Nautical surveys have developed long stretches of the "Inland passage" and the most important anchorages, supplementing the general reconnaissance of the whole coast line. A very large proportion of our shores, however, are subject to such radical changes from natural causes, that the survey of the coast can never be brought to final completion. Examinations and re-surveys are as essential as was the original work, if the material already acquired is to be maintained in the full measure of its usefulness, and commerce is to continue to reap the legitimate benefit of the expenditures already incurred. Fortunately the survey has been conducted on such sound principles it meets the increasing requirements for accuracy demanded by the navigation of to-day, as fully as it did the more simple needs of the navigator of forty years ago, and it is fairly believed, whatever may be the necessities of the future, that it will still supply the information desired.
The Surveys are published in four hundred and fifty charts designed to meet the various needs of the Navigator and Civil Engineer, for either general or local purposes; over thirty thousand copies of these are issued annually and there is a steadily increasing demand.
The assistance rendered to the armies and fleets of the Union, in the late Civil War, is a chapter in the history of the Survey that should not be forgotten. The office in Washington was beset with demands for information from all over the country, for descriptions not of the coast alone, but all sections of the interior representing the seat of war. Fortunately the experts were there who, under the direction of able chiefs, could collect and compile such material as was available. The labor of the office in this cause resulted in the publication of a series of "War Maps" of the interior, for which there is frequent demand even at the present day. This was all additional work to a force already overburdened in the preparation of manuscript maps and special information, compiled from the reports of the Field parties; especially of those localities that had only recently been surveyed. And in all the din and excitement of the call to arms, with hosts of stalwart, honest men assembled around him, that might give in their learning the wisdom of the world, the controlling mind of the Survey, that had labored diligently and sought knowledge patiently, was a chosen counsellor of the Chief of the Nation. Declining military honors, the profession in which he had been educated, he devoted himself with renewed energy to assisting the nation's efforts in those special duties he knew so well how to perform. A patriot himself of the purest type, he inspired those around him by his ennobling spirit and zeal in the cause.
An average of twenty parties were maintained with the Army and Navy during all the years of the war, rendering services of acknowledged value to the military forces. An officer of the Coast Survey piloted the fleet into Port Royal; another led the Iron Clads in the attack on Sumter; a third stationed the fleet in the bombardment of Jackson and St. Philip; and a fourth rendered signal services in the assault on Fort Fisher. They were on the Peninsula, guides in the wilderness on the retreat to Malvern Hill; at Chickamauga, Knoxville, Missionary Ridge; the march to the Sea and pursuit through the Carolinas; on the Red river; before Petersburgh; in the Sounds of North Carolina; the Sea Islands of Georgia and Florida and the swamps of Louisiana; and, wherever they went, few in numbers though they were, they gained honor for their cause and credit for their Chief.
The Survey of the Coast has excited the admiration of the whole civilized world for its thoroughness and accuracy, and has not been excelled by the most advanced nations. It has justly been claimed to be a scientific work, as well as a practical one, for science has guided those who have conducted it and led them through the fields of their labors on the only sure basis to produce knowledge. And the great knowledge that has been acquired by its scientific prosecution, is beyond comparison with the little that would have resulted had it been conducted on the less thorough methods of Nautical Surveying that have been so earnestly advocated. We cannot compute the value of what has been learned in dollars and cents; that it has saved to the Nation many times over, all that it has cost, does not admit of a doubt. Its educational influence has been widespread, extending beyond the seas, and coming back to us with cheering words of encouragement and praise. Practical men utilizing the results of the great work in the business affairs of life, use no stinted phrases in the encomiums they bestow upon it; Military men compelled to rely upon it in the perils of warfare, have not found it wanting, and have given only praise for the great help it was to them; Scientific men, ever watchful of that which is true, have approved it the world over, and cite it as an example of the great profit that may come to a people, free to utilize Science in the conduct of practical work. Our institutions of learning have adopted its publications in text-books. Our merchants venture millions of dollars daily on the veracity of its statements, and our mariners risk their lives on the truthfulness of the Surveys. It has added to the prosperity of the nation in peace—to her glory in war; and when history shall record its awards to our people, there will be no page of the galaxy with more honor than that which bears tribute to the genius of American Science, in the work of the Coast Survey. From ignorance most profound we have been raised to knowledge almost perfect; and well may the commercial communities by their associations and exchanges bear the testimony to its value that they do, and have done in times past; as might the whole people for the wise legislation that established the work, that has defended it, and we may hope will perpetuate it for its inestimable benefits to them all.