THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION". 21 



An eminently useful influence has been exerted by the Institution through the 

 aid it has afforded in the organization of the different government explorations by 

 land and by sea. Whether by official representations to the heads of departments, 

 or personal influence with officers and employes, it has secured the engagement of 

 individuals competent to collect facts and specimens; it has instructed persons thus 

 engaged, and others, in the details of observation; it has superintended the pre- 

 paration, and, in some cases, borne the expense of the necessary outfits; has fur- 

 nished fresh supplies from time to time to the collectors while in the field; received 

 the collections made, and preserved them for future study, or at once consi"faed 

 them to the hands of competent persons, both at home and abroad, for investiga- 

 tion; directing the execution of the necessary drawings and engravings for the 

 reports, and finally superintending the printing and even the distribution of any 

 available copies of the completed works to institutions of science. Prior to the 

 establishment of the Institution but little had been done by our government in 

 the way of scientific explorations, with the exception of that under Captain Wilkes. 

 But since then nearly every United States expedition, whether a survey for a 

 Pacific railroad route, a boundary line between the United States and regions north 

 or south of it, or within its borders, a wagon-road across the Rocky Mountains, or 

 an ordinary topographical exploration, has been influenced and aided more or less, 

 as above stated. 



Besides these, similar explorations have been carried on without any reference 

 to the government, and either entirely or in a great measure at the expense of the 

 Institution, and always at its suggestion, or under its direction. Prominent among 

 these may be mentioned the three years' researches in the Arctic regions, by Mr. 

 Kennicott, with the co-operation of gentlemen of the Hudson's Bay Company ; of 

 Mr. Drexler, in the region of Hudson's Bay, and also in the Rocky Mountains; 

 of Mr. Coues, in Labrador; of Lieutenant Feilner, in Nebraska and Northern 

 California; of Mr. John Xantus, at Fort Tejon, Cape St. Lucas, and in Western 

 Mexico; of Lieutenant Trowbridge, on the coast of California; of Drs. Cooper 

 and Suckley, in Western America generally; of Drs. Coues and Beers, in Kansas, 

 New Mexico, and Arizona; of Dr. Irwin, in Arizona; of Dr. Ilitz, about Laramie 

 Peak; of Lieutenant Couch, in Texas and Mexico; of G. Wurdeman, Lieutenant 

 Wright, Captain Woodbury, and others, in Florida, and the Gulf of Mexico; of 

 Dr. Sartorius, Professor Sumichrast, Dr. Berendt, in Mexico; Dr. Von Frantz, J. 

 Carniol, in Costa Rica; of Mr. March, in Jamaica; of Mr. Wright, Dr. Gundlach, 

 Professor Poey, in Cuba; Judge Carter, in Bolivia, besides many others. 



In addition to the collections which have been received from explorations organ- 

 ized under the direction of the Institution, large numbers of duplicate specimens 

 have been presented by the meteorological observers and other Smithsonian col- 

 laborators, the whole forming a body of material for the illustration and study of 

 the American continent unequalled by any collection previously made. The results 

 of the explorations, however, as might be inferred, have not been confined to spe- 

 cimens alone, but have furnished information relative to the topography, geology, 

 physical geography, ethnology, and the living fauna of the country and regions 

 viirited. 



