points 125 miles distant by means of a heliograph
with a reflecting surface of but twenty square inches.

The War Department answers more nearly than any other to the Department
of Public Works found in other governments. All public improvements, the
construction of docks, bridges, and the improvement of rivers and
harbors, are under the supervision of army engineers. All arctic
explorations and the explorations of our western territory, have been
conducted by army officers under the direction of the Secretary of War.

The publication of war records is being made by a special board in the
War Department. Thirty-five volumes have been published. It is estimated
that there will be one hundred and nineteen volumes when the work is
completed. The Secretary of War also has charge of the Military Academy
at West Point, of certain national parks, and homes for disabled
soldiers.

The army is commanded by a lieutenant-general under whom are three
major-generals and six brigadier-generals. It consists of about 26,000
men distributed in the three divisions of the Missouri, the Atlantic,
and the Pacific, of which the first contains four departments, the
second, one, and the third, three. Congress appropriates and expends
through the War Department $400,000 yearly on the National Guard for its
armament and equipment. The aggregate of this reserve army regularly
organized and uniformed is 106,500 men. The Secretary also details army
officers to furnish military instruction at various colleges.

The principal questions to-day concerning the War Department are the
advisability of strengthening our coast defences, and the lessening of
the desertions in the army, which amount yearly to from ten to fifteen
per cent, of the total strength of the army.

_#The Navy Department.#_--The Navy Department was established April 30,
1798. There is one assistant secretary. The routine work of the
department is distributed among eight bureaus: (1) of Yards and Docks,
(2) of Equipment and Recruiting, (3) of Navigation, (4) of Ordinance,
(5) of Construction and Repair, (6) of Steam Engineering, (7) of
Provisions and Clothing, (8) of Medicine and Surgery. The chiefs of the
bureaus are officers of the United States Navy. There is a hydrographic
office attached to the bureau of navigation, which prepares maps, charts
and nautical books relating to navigation, and makes investigations
concerning marine meteorology. This Department has charge of the Nav