Cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution 807 



enter fresh fields when the public good required it and the 

 funds at command permitted extension. Each head of an 

 important bureau, in his turn, has likewise contributed plans, 

 suggestions, and methods to the unique institution with which 

 he was connected. There has been but one restriction, laid 

 down by the first secretary, and thus explained by Asa Gray: 

 "In view of the limited means of the Institution, it ought 

 not to undertake anything which could be done, and well 

 done, by other existing instrumentalities. So, as occasion 

 arose, Henry lightened its load and saved its energies by 

 giving over to other agencies some of its cherished work." 



It would have been easy for the managers to maintain 

 an exclusive theory, to organize an academy of limited 

 membership sitting with closed doors, to claim precedence 

 for the scientific officers of the United States government, 

 to surround all proceedings with an air of mystery and re- 

 serve, and to claim that territory once occupied by the 

 Smithsonian belonged forever to the original tenant, and 

 should not be invaded. But nothing of this kind has been 

 done in a period of fifty years. On the contrary, from its 

 inauguration until now there is an unbroken record of friendly 

 relations with every agency in the land devoted to the en- 

 couragement of learning. Without any patronage, without 

 the power to bestow much pecuniary assistance, without the 

 bestowal of diplomas, medals, or other badges of distinction, 

 without any official or paternal control, without even the dis- 

 position to criticize or correct, the Smithsonian has been and 

 is the great auxiliary of science and education throughout the 

 length and breadth of the land. 



One of the earliest acts of the administration was peculiarly 

 adapted to a country in which everybody is encouraged to be 

 interested in the proceedings of the government. Corre- 

 spondents were enlisted in every part of the United States, 



