464 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



Robert Stanton Avery, of Washington City, wlio died in 1894. 

 The property bequeathed is estimated to be worth about seventy- 

 five thousand dollars, and the income is to be devoted to special 

 investigations in magnetism and electricity. 



Finally, the position of the Smithsonian Institution is that 

 of a " ward of the Government, having property of its own for 

 which that Government acts as trustee, leaving its administration 

 wholly with regents." Its most important function is to pro- 

 mote original research, reflecting thus the sentiment which occurs 

 in the writings of James Smithson : " Every man is a valuable 

 member of society who by his observations, researches, and ex- 

 periments procures knowledge for men." The advancement of 

 utilitarian interests commonly finds capital, for it appeals to the 

 avarice of man ; but the advancement of knowledge in its highest 

 and widest sense secures little encouragement from wealthy 

 men, and it is exactly this phase which the institution makes 

 its own. Its next function is to make known to the world 

 knowledge thus secured, for the benefit of mankind, and this it 

 seeks to accomplish through its publications and their wide 

 distribution. 



The influence of the institution in local education is well 

 shown by the following circumstance : Some years ago I was 

 standing on the porch of the Norman building as two stout Afri- 

 can " ladies " passed by. One of these remarked, " Let us go in 

 there," pointing to the entrance. " Oh, no," replied the lady 

 addressed, " there is nothing in there but ' Prehistoric Anthro- 

 pology,' " pronouncing the words glibly and accurately. I lis- 

 tened with amazement, and pondered. 



The changes in form which the bookcases underwent in monastic 

 libraries were described by Mr. J. Willis Clark at the recent meeting of the 

 British Royal Archaeological Institute. The first form wiis an elongated 

 lecturn placed at right angles to the wall between the windows, so that 

 readers might have plenty of light to read the books that were chained to 

 it. Splendid isolated examples remain at Lincoln, and a whole library of 

 them at Zutphen. Owing to the large space they occupied, these lecturns 

 were replaced by open bookcases with two shelves on each side. Of this 

 style were the bookcases at Merton College, made in 1365, which served as 

 the model for collegiate libraries in Oxford generally ; and it is clear from 

 contemporary documents that like bookcases were in use at Citeaux, Clair- 

 vaux, and Canterbury. The modern system of placing shelves against a 

 wall was first adopted at the Escurial in 1584, and was introduced by Wren 

 at Lincoln in 1675. At Triuity College, Cambridge, Wren ingeniously 

 combined the ancient and modern methods by dividing the library into 

 what he termed "cells," or places of study, formed of bookcases against the 

 walls, and others at right angles to them. 



