Cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution 8 1 3 



bility of studying the habits of the aboriginal inhabitants of 

 this continent, and of preserving, ere they totally perish, the 

 knowledge of their languages, religions, arts, manners, and 

 customs, was recognized when the Institution was first or- 

 ganized. The earliest quarto publication was a token of this 

 interest. For many years the Catlin portraits stared every 

 visitor in the face. The exploring expeditions in the trans- 

 Mississippi brought back curious relics of primitive men, 

 which were exhibited and studied by many young and en- 

 thusiastic investigators. The head of the Geological Survey, 

 under whom parties were annually sent forth into distant and 

 unknown regions, was keenly alive to the interest attached 

 to anthropological inquiry. Nothing was more fitting than 

 that he in due time should become the director of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology. 



Quite different was the growth of the Fish Commission, an 

 independent organization of which Baird was the originator 

 and the head, from its beginning, and until his death. 

 Technically, the credit of this branch of the government 

 service does not belong to the Smithsonian. It stands on its 

 own foundation. But it will undoubtedly be admitted that 

 without the knowledge, the official encouragement, and the 

 fine cooperative spirit of the second secretary, this com- 

 mission, which has been so significant in its economic and in 

 its scientific work, and has brought so much renown to the 

 country, would not, in the present generation at least, have 

 attained to its usefulness and distinction. It is here worth 

 while to note that each of the secretaries has added impor- 

 tant features to the Smithsonian which have had widespread 

 influence upon the development of science. This will ap- 

 pear fully in the historical chapters. The cooperative spirit 

 of Henry in initiating the Weather Bureau, of Baird in 

 developing the National Museum, the Fish Commission, 

 52* 



