Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards

APPENDIX A 519
When not tending the construction of his instruments and apparatus, the great
24-inch theodolite for measuring the angles of the survey, and the telescopes, transit
instruments, astronomical clocks, chronometers, barometers, thermometers, micrometers,
and balances he had ordered, Hassler met and discoursed with the astronomers and
geodecists in London and Paris on the state and progress in these fields in Europe. He
procured new copies of both French and English standard weights and measures, for
their like was not known in America and they were needed for the survey, and made
comparisons of the meter bars and other measures with Troughton's own scales.
In the spring of 1815, upon the death of his father, he went to Switzerland to
settle the estate, returning with his inheritance of some 1,100 pounds sterling. Besides
more instruments he bought lavishly of the best and most recent books on astronomy
and geodesy, some for the instruction of the young officers who would be employed in
the survey, the rest for his own use and instruction.
The value of the equipment ordered by Hassler in London and Paris came to
$37,550. With his salary of $4,500 and traveling expenses, his accounts came to a grand
total of $55,634, well above the congressional appropriation. He had to come home
at his own expense. In the first week of August 1815 he and his family left London, to
arrive in Philadelphia 9 weeks later. He had, as Gallatin pointed out, outrun his time
and his funds, but the instruments he had procured were excellent.
in the spring of 1816, without waiting for formal approval, Hassler set to work.
On August 3, 3 months after Congress appropriated funds to initiate the survey, itself,
Hassler was notified of his appointment as Superintendent of the Survey of the Coast,
with a salary of $3,000 and $2,000 for expenses. He had discussed with the Secretary
of the Treasury the operation of the survey and the amount of freedom he should have
in the work. In a confirming letter that rang like a personal declaration of independence
he said in part:
My task would be fully large enough, to make all the combinations, operations,
and principal observations; to bring up the young officers given to me to the
capability required for their employment, (as it will in fact be a practical
school that I shall have to keep, besides the work), and to direct, inspect, and
verify, the detailed surveys, and their uniting in proper charts, etc. To load
me with any of the mechanical, or economical parts, would be impeding the
work, * * * and place me in a situation not to be supported.
At 46, Hassler's character was fully formed. He was a scientist of unlimited
enthusiasm and devotion to his work. He was honest, a proud spirit, and knew his
worth. He also habitually planned things on a large scale, without giving much thought
to the practical realities or limitations of his projects. The Swiss colony project had
been characteristic, and his mentors should have been warned by the apparatus he had
purchased for his two unauthorized observatories. And, his biographer notes, as "the
head of a large family, the husband of a woman fond of society and unqualified to
struggle along devotedly on small means, a scholar who in youth was accustomed to
almost unrestricted expenditures for books, scientific instruments, and travel, he was
to find himself in maturer years in sharp conflict with economic conditions." But he had
on his side warm supporters in the American Philosophical Society, and more valuable,
the Presidency. As Jefferson first befriended him, so succeeding Presidents Madison,
Monroe, Adams, and Jackson were to come to his defense and to extricate him from his
repeated difficulties with accountants and Congress.
A letter from the Treasury in February 1817, 6 months after his appointment, asked
Hassler to state the probable time required to complete the survey. He couldn't say,
for he had not yet begun. Owing to the severity of the winter, he had not even found