474 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE. 



THE SMITHSONIAN AND CAR- 

 NEGIE INSTITUTIONS. 

 The regents of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution held their annual meeting 

 on January 28, and the report of 

 the secretary for the year ending June 

 30, 1902, has been made public. The 

 first year-book of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution is nearly ready, and will 

 probably be distributed at about the 

 same time as the present number of 

 the Monthly. Those who are inter- 

 ested in science have, therefore, 

 an opportunity to judge the work of 

 these institutions, so unique in their 

 objects and so great in their possibil- 

 ities. The two institutions have 

 many points of similarity in their or- 

 ganization and aims. The original 

 bequest of Smithson, approximately 

 $500,000, was about the same as the 

 average endowment of the leading col- 

 leges at the time, and the $10,000,000 

 given by Mr. Carnegie is now about 

 equal to the average endowment of our 

 great universities. Each institution is 

 managed by a board, which meets once 

 a year at Washington and is composed 

 of eminent citizens of the country. 

 Each institution has an executive head, 

 but lacks any body corresponding to 

 the faculty of a university. There 

 are, however, several points of differ- 

 ence. The Smithsonian Institution is 

 concerned with the diffusion as well 

 as with the increase of knowledge, and 

 its activities are supposed to extend 

 ' per orbem.' The Carnegie Institu- 

 tion is confined to the advancement of 

 knowledge by research, and the founder 

 has stated : ' That his chief purpose 

 is to secure, if possible, for the United 

 States of America leadership in the 

 domain of discovery.' 



The Smithsonian Institution has per- 



formed a service of immense impor- 

 tance, though probably not on the lines 

 expected by the founder. What should 

 be done with Smithson's bequest was 

 for years a matter of debate in con- 

 gress and elsewhere. When the insti- 

 tution was finally organized in 1846, 

 it was the main center of scientific 

 work in the country. Its ' establish- 

 ment ' was the president of the United 

 States with his cabinet, the vice-presi- 

 dent and the chief justice. The re- 

 gents represented the executive, the 

 supreme court, the senate, the house, 

 the District of Columbia and different 

 states. The secretary was keeper of 

 the museum, librarian and practically 

 the head of all the scientific work 

 done at Washington. But in fifty 

 years the scientific activity of the 

 country has developed in a way that 

 is without precedent. The incomes of 

 our leading universities are twice the 

 original endowment of the Smithson- 

 ian, and the national government 

 spends annually on the geological sur- 

 vey or the weather bureau twice this 

 endowment. 



The Smithsonian Institution might 

 conceivably have become a branch of 

 the government coordinate with the 

 executive, legislative and judicial 

 branches, but the reverse of this has 

 happened; its functions have become 

 increasingly unimportant, and it prob- 

 ably now is a drag on the government 

 agencies that it still administers. The 

 establishment is a mere name; the 

 regents meet annually for an hour or 

 two to listen to the report of the secre- 

 tary; there is no more reason why the 

 secretary should continue as keeper of 

 the national museum than as librarian 

 of the national library. The last re- 

 port of the secretary is certainly dis- 



