REPORT OP THE SECRETARY. 51 



knowledge to persons who may be engaged in original investigations 

 in natural history, to museums for the completion of their lists, and 

 also to colleges for the purposes of education. 



As it is not a part of the policy of the Institution to form a general 

 collection like that of the British museum, which can only be the 

 work of the general government, but to assist in advancing and 

 diffusing a knowledge of the natural history of North America, we 

 have been anxious to distribute the duplicates in such a manner as 

 to render them subservient to the objects in view, and it is hoped 

 that we shall begin the work of distribution within the present year. 

 As usual, a number of young gentlemen have availed themselves of 

 the facilities offered by the library and collections of the Institution to 

 prosecute their researches in different branches of natural history; 

 and in some cases, in which such confidence seemed fully justified, 

 series of specimens have been intrusted for examination to indi- 

 viduals at a distance. Although the primary object of the Institu- 

 tion is not educational, yet the museum is arranged with especial 

 reference to the study of the elements of different branches of science; 

 and the distribution of the extra specimens will furnish the means of 

 diffusing a knowledge of natural history more generally throughout 

 the country. 



Explorations. — A number of expeditions sent out by the general 

 government have been furnished with instructions, and in some cases 

 with apparatus for the collection of objects of natural history, and 

 several explorations have been undertaken by individuals under the 

 immediate auspices of the Institution. I need only mention in this 

 place that conducted by Mr. Robert Kennicott in the regions of the 

 Hudson's Bay territory and in Russian America. This young gentle- 

 man is assisted by the Smithsonian Institution, the University of 

 Michigan, the Audubon Club and Academy of Sciences of Chicago,, 

 and a number of liberal-minded persons interested in natural history. 

 His labors have been greatly facilitated by the cordial co-operation: 

 of Sir George Simpson, governor, and the other officers of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company, to whom we are also indebted for valuable dona- 

 tions of specimens and records of meteorological observations. 

 * For a detailed account of the explorations and the museum, I refer 

 to the report of Professor Baird hereto appended. 



