Exploration Work of the Institution 477 



"The telegraph company not only afforded facilities for 

 making the collections, but also contributed, as did the 

 Chicago Academy of Sciences, to lessen the expense to the 

 Smithsonian fund in the purchase of the necessary articles 

 comprising the outfit of the naturalists of the expedition." 



After the disbanding of the telegraph expedition one of 

 the naturalists, William H. Dall, remained in Alaska and 

 made explorations particularly in the region of the Yukon 

 River. The support of his labors is a notable instance of the 

 cooperation which has existed between the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution and other scientific and non-scientific organizations. 

 Mr. Dall defrayed the first cost of his expedition from private 

 funds ; the transportation of his collections from the west 

 coast was undertaken by the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- 

 pany; and the expense attending their elaboration was borne 

 jointly by the Boston Society of Natural History and the 

 Smithsonian Institution, which latter furnished the necessary 

 work-rooms. 



Mention has already been made of the services rendered 

 to science by the medical officers attached to the various gov- 

 ernment surveying parties. Hardly less important have been 

 the activities of the army surgeons stationed at the military 

 posts of the West. In the years when the Institution was 

 paying special attention to the investigation of the abo- 

 rigines of America, the pages of the annual reports are 

 thickly dotted with the names of medical officers who ren- 

 dered important service in this line of exploration. The 

 great collections of the National Museum tell of their zeal, 

 which even at the present day has suffered no abatement, 

 though the spread of population and the cultivation of waste 

 places have in large measure lessened opportunities. 



Other branches of the public service no less than the army 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1865, page 61. 

 31* 



