8 smithsonian miscellaneous collections vol. 76 



(5) Cooperation by Supply of Funds 



The income from the Smithsonian Institution endowment has 

 never been sufficient to allow financial grants of large size. As early 

 as 1855 it is stated : 



In anticipation of the great fair in Chicago of the Illinois State Agricul- 

 tural Society, it was proposed to secure and exhibit full collections of the 

 natural history of the State on that occasion. Accordingly, Mr. Robert 

 Kennicott was selected by the Society to travel throughout Illinois, especially 

 along the lines of the Illinois Central Railroad, and not only to make col- 

 lections himself, but to instruct the employees of the railroad company and 

 others, so as to enable them to assist in the work. Aided by a small appro- 

 priation by the Institution, in addition to the facilities furnished by the society 

 and the railroad company, Mr. Kennicott collected in a few months the finest 

 cabinet of Illinois specimens ever brought together. 



The custom thus inaugurated has been followed out with increas- 

 ing magnitude, involving the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876, the 

 Chicago Exposition of 1893, and, on a smaller scale, those of Atlanta, 

 Ga. ; New Orleans, La. ; Bufifalo, N. Y. ; Charleston, S. C. ; Cincin- 

 nati, O. ; Seattle, Wash. ; Omaha, Neb. ; St. Louis, Mo. ; Portland, 

 Oreg. ; and San Francisco, Calif. For most of these, special grants 

 of funds were appropriated by Congress. 



With the endowment of the Institution through private bequests, 

 other allotments have been possible. By grants from the Hodgkins 

 Fund the Institution has been able to cooperate with Dr. Leonard 

 Hill and others in investigations on the iniluence of the atmosphere 

 on human health ; with Wolfgang Ritter on the flight of insects ; 

 E. W. Scripture on the construction of a vowel organ; with C. G. 

 Abbot on Arequipa pyrheliometry, the pyranometer, and solar varia- 

 bility ; with Anders Angstrom on atmospheric radiation ; with 

 E. Duclaux on atmospheric actinometry ; with J. B. Cohen on the 

 atmosphere of towns ; with Carl Barus on atmospheric nucleation and 

 ionized air ; with Lord Rayleigh and W. Ramsay in their investigations 

 on argon ; with H. de Varigny on air and life ; with O. Lummer and 

 E. Pringsheim on the ratio (x) of specific heats ; with V. Schumann 

 on the absorption and emission of air for certain light wave lengths ; 

 with M. W. Travers and others on the attainment of low tempera- 

 tures, etc. 



(6) Cooperation on Publications 



No insignificant proportion of the funds and energies of the Insti- 

 tution have been devoted to the publication of works of scientific and 

 educational value, but from the sale of which no satisfactory finan- 

 cial return could be anticipated. This form of cooperation, inau- 



