NO. 4 COOPERATIVE WORK OF THE INSTITUTION 5 



to that which may immediately tend to advance the pecuniary interest of 

 individuals. Requests are often also made to have experiments instituted 

 for testing proposed applications of science to the arts ; and provided these 

 can be tried with the apparatus of the Institution and the results which may 

 flow from them are to be given to the public without the restriction of a 

 patent, the request is granted. 



And again: 



The correspondence during the last year has been more extended than that 

 of any preceding period. The character of the Institution becoming more 

 widely known, the number of applications for information relative to particular 

 branches of knowledge has been increased. The correspondence relates to 

 the exchanges, the collections, the publications, the communication with 

 authors and the members of commissions to which memoirs are submitted, 

 answers to questions on different branches of specimens of natural history, 

 geology, etc. ; also explanations of the character of the Institution, the distri- 

 bution of its publications, its system of meteorology, etc. 



And yet again : 



As the collaborators of the Institution generally reside at a distance, the 

 business with them is principally carried on by mail. The same is also the case 

 in regard to all the exchanges and consequently the record of nearly all the 

 transactions of the Institution is contained in the correspondence. Besides 

 those relating to ofiicial business, hundreds of letters are received during 

 the year, containing inquiries relative to the various subjects on which the 

 writers desire information. If these cannot be immediately answered without 

 much research, they are referred to collaborators who are experts in the 

 various branches of knowledge, and who can readily supply information in 

 regard to subjects within the range of their special studies. (Annual Report, 

 1868, p. 51.) 



In previous years requests have frequently been received from foreign 

 governments, especially those of Japan and China, and of Central and South 

 America, for the selection of persons to carry on certain operations, particu- 

 larly those relating to engineering and mining geology, nearly every year 

 bringing at least one call of this character. To this the year 1879 furnished no 

 exception, the Government of Salvador, through the American minister, 

 Mr. George Williamson, having asked to be supplied with an experienced 

 geologist to explore the recently discovered gold fields of the state. Of 

 course in such cases the advice of experts is always solicited, and several of 

 these uniting on the name of Mr. Goodyear, a resident of California, and 

 formerly connected with the geological survey of that state, he was selected 

 for the mission in question, and has already entered upon his duties (Annual 

 Report, 1879, P- 57-) 



(2) Cooperation through Furnishing Materials 



This is an important and ever-increasing phase of the work of 

 the Institution. It appears that as early as 1849 the regents made an 

 appropriation for the purchase of a telescope for the use of the 



