MAMMALOGY — MILLER 411 



ever, go so far as to eliminate the stimulus of a healthy spirit of com- 

 petition and thus impede progress instead of advancing it. 



For three decades I have been associated with the Smithsonian 

 Institution as a member of the scientific staff of the National Museum. 

 From this point of view and in this capacity I have witnessed and 

 taken part in the history of the present phase of mammalogy. It is 

 only natural that in closing I should say something about the place 

 which the experience, resources, and men of the Smithsonian qualify 

 the Institution to take in the further development of the study. The 

 Smithsonian Institution is particularly fortunate in its freedom from 

 personal and local ties. It is a private institution, privately founded, 

 privately directed, and privately financed. At the same time the 

 guardianship of the Federal Government gives it security and sta- 

 bility. It is thus able to pursue its own course without regard to 

 immediate economic considerations. The absence of all the duties 

 which pertain to the business of teaching, either in the university 

 sense or in the broader and more popular sense of the educational 

 work now being done by many of our large museums, is a further 

 source of power to the Smithsonian Institution, permitting it to 

 concentrate its efforts on pure research. To make its influence most 

 felt in the future development of mammalogy, the Smithsonian 

 should aim at the establishment of definite lines of activity in partic- 

 ular sections of the field that are not now being sufficiently worked 

 by other agencies, and at a general coordination of the results 

 obtained by investigators throughout the world. And this, if it 

 procures the means, the Institution will do. 



