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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE PKOGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 AND ITS DEPENDENCIES. 

 The lamented death of Major Powell 

 should not affect the work of the two 

 great national institutions for the crea- 

 tion and organization of which he was 

 chiefly responsible. Powell resigned 

 the directorship of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey in 1894, leaving it one of the 

 strongest scientific agencies of the gov- 

 ernment. During the later years of 

 his life when his health began to fail, 

 he entrusted the administration of the 

 Bureau of American Ethnology to his 

 principal assistant, Dr. W J McGee, 

 who was given the title ' ethnologist in 

 charge.' Such divided control is not 

 usually advisable, but in this case 

 there was perfect sympathy and co- 

 operation, and Major Powell appeared 

 to have provided with remarkable fore- 

 sight for the continuation of the work 

 that he had inaugurated and success- 

 fully conducted. It is a serious blow 

 to scientific work under the govern- 

 ment and to anthropology in the coun- 

 try that Powell's plans have failed. 



Many do not know that three of the 

 important scientific institutions sup- 

 ported by the government are adminis- 

 tered by the Smithsonian Institution 

 namely, the National Museum, the Na- 

 tional Zoological Park and the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology. The two first 

 secretaries of the Smithsonian, Henry 

 and Baird, were always ready to under- 

 take plans for ' the increase and diffu- 

 sion of knowledge among men,' in 

 accordance with the terms of Smith- 

 son's remarkable bequest. When a 

 scientific movement had been inaugu- 

 rated they were glad to place it under 

 the conditions most favorable to its 

 development. It suffices to mention 

 the weather reports inaugurated by 



Henry and now conducted as the' 

 Weather Bureau under the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and the move- 

 ment for fisheries inaugurated by 

 Baird, which has become the Fish Com- 

 mission. In accordance with this 

 policy, Henry recommended the separa- 

 tion of the National Museum from the 

 Smithsonian Institution, believing that 

 it would be more liberally supported 

 under direct governmental control and 

 that the institution would be freed for 

 work that it only could do. 



The policy of his predecessors has 

 not been followed by the present secre- 

 tary of the institution. It is generally 

 believed that the miserable building 

 of the museum would long ago have 

 been replaced by a building such as is 

 possessed by the American Museum of 

 Natural History in New \ork City and 

 that the collections would be far larger 

 and more symmetrical than they are 

 if the museum had been handed over 

 to the Department of Agriculture. The 

 development of the museum under 

 adverse conditions was largely due to- 

 the late G. Brown Goode. On the occa- 

 sion of his death some six years ago, 

 however, the secretary of the institu- 

 tion did not for some time appoint a 

 successor at the museum, but divided 

 the work among three head curators. 

 Now, on the occasion of the death of 

 Major Powell, the secretary has given 

 to one of these curators the director- 

 ship of the Bureau of American Eth- 

 nology, not, however, giving him the 

 title of 'director,' but that of 'chief,' 

 thus lessening the importance of the 

 position, while subordinating it to the 

 National Museum and to the secretary 

 of the institution. If this were done 

 in order that the secretary might take 

 more direct interest in the work of th& 



