THE COOPERATION OF 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WITH 

 OTHER INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING 



BY DANIEL COIT OILMAN 



President of Johns Hopkins University 



NE of the officers of the Smithsonian, in re- 

 counting the services of one of its depart- 

 ments, has said that they might be expressed 

 in three words, Record, Research, and Educa- 

 tion ; and these are .doubtless the most im- 

 portant functions of the entire Institution, if it is to proceed 

 upon the line that was indicated by Washington and re- 

 affirmed by Smithson the advancement and diffusion of 

 knowledge. But there has been another factor in the or- 

 ganization, and one that cannot be too frequently named or 

 too highly extolled. That coefficient is cooperation. In a 

 complex establishment almost everything depends upon the 

 spirit with which its functions are performed, and the intelli- 

 gence which guides its work. Old Mortality, Doctor Dryas- 

 dust, and Dominie Sampson were devoted to record, research, 

 and education; but these characters were not the types of 

 Smithsonian historians, investigators, or teachers. 



It will not be proper to speak of the one who is living, 



