6 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



nients; by the discrimination with which the reports arc distri]>uted, 

 and by numerous evidences of interest and liberality. 



The objects of the Institution were defined b}^ the founder in the 

 broadest possible terms, and interpreted by its first Secretary, Joseph 

 Henry, in the words "to assist men of science in making original 

 researches, to publish them in a series of volumes, and to give a copy 

 of them to every tirst-class library on the face of the earth." While 

 the field has been of necessity narrowed from time to time, or diverted 

 in first one direction and then another, the breadth of scope has never 

 been narrowed. That many of the efforts have grown so large as to 

 require either direct support of the Government by the establishment 

 of independent bureaus, finally coming under the direction of the 

 Executive Departments, or aid to agencies which continue under the 

 direction of the Institution, though sustained b}' Congressional appro- 

 priation, is but a further evidence of the fact that the charter of the 

 Institution has been adhered to both in the spirit and in the letter. 

 The United States Weather Bureau, the Geological Survey, the Fish 

 Commission, and the National Herbarium grew out of its earlier activi 

 ties, and the National Museum, the International Exchanges, the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology, the Zoological Park, and the Astro- 

 physical Observatory are still directed by it. It led the way in the 

 organization of library work in the United States; it took the initial 

 steps and continues to support schemes for international cataloguing, 

 and it maintains a benevolent relation with the American Historical 

 Association and the National Society of the Daughters of the Ameri- 

 can Revolution. 



Sixty years ago it was relatively the best endowed scientific institu- 

 tion in the United States and one of two or three of national scope. 

 The magnificent endowments in this time of so man}' universities and 

 colleges have changed this relationship to one of pecuniary inferiority, 

 yet without changing the nature of the Institutioirs relations to these. 

 To the organizations aiding in the scientific advancement of the 

 country, which advancement has in large measure contributed to the 

 material welfare of the United States, the interests ])eneHtcd thereby 

 have in return made large endowments for original research either 

 througii the great universities and societies of the land or ])y the 

 establishment of new academies, institutions, and nuiseums. To all 

 of these the Smithsonian Institution holds out a friendly cooperation, 

 its aim l)eing, while continuing its own work upon its accepted lines 

 and adapting them to new needs as occasion arises, to continue along 

 the established policy of preventing rivalries, promoting wise cooper- 

 ation, diminishing waste, and furthering the search for knowledge, 

 the recording of discovered truth, and its dissemination among the 

 people. 



It nnist at no time be forgotten, however, that the Institution, of 

 which the Government is trustee, was not limited (mIIkm- by the founder 



