6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



Gillis Astronomical Expedition to Chile, and in the report for 1854 

 the purchase is announced of four entire sets of apparatus for de- 

 termining the direction and intensity of magnetic force which were 

 lent to various observers, including those of the Grinnell Expedi- 

 tions of 1850-55 and the U. S. Coast Survey. " It is the purpose 

 to keep these instruments constantly in operation for the purpose of 

 comparing results with other observations of a similar character." 

 Cooperation with meteorologists the world over was one of the 

 earliest undertakings. In the second annual report of the Institu- 

 tion for 1848 (1849) it is stated that the sum of $1000.00 was ap- 

 propriated for the commencement of a series of observations, 

 particularly with reference to the phenomena of storms. It was 

 proposed to enlist the services and cooperate with voluntary private 

 and public individuals and institutions, including the United States 

 Navy. 



With the instruments owned by private individuals, vi^ith those of the 

 several military stations, and w^ith the supply of the deficiency by the funds 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, it is believed that observations can be insti- 

 tuted at important points over the whole United States, and that, with the 

 observations which we can procure from Mexico and the British possessions of 

 North America, data will be furnished for important additions to our 

 knowledge of meteorological phenomena. As a beginning to this extended 

 system, six sets of instruments have been forwarded to the coast of Oregon 

 and California, for the purpose of establishing periodical observations on the 

 western side of the Rocky Mountains. Also a set has been forwarded to 

 Bent's Fort, and another to Santa Fe. Circulars have been prepared and will 

 shortly be issued for the purpose of ascertaining the number and locality of 

 all those who, with or without instruments, are willing to join in the enter- 

 prise. 



Obviously, here was laid the foundation of the United States 

 Weather Bureau as it exists today. 



It is not alone through furnishing apparatus that cooperation is 

 carried on. In the form of gifts and loans for the purpose of re- 

 search and study, thousands of specimens are annually distributed to 

 investigators and students the world over. " Applications for such 

 assistance," wrote Professor Baird in his report for 1854, "are con-, 

 stantly being received, and always met with all possible promptness, 

 so that scarcely any natural history monograph or memoir of any 

 extent has been published in this country within a year or two which 

 has not been indebted in this way to the Institution." 



