During the course of the century it 

 created the Coast and Geodetic Sur- 

 vey, the Naval Observatory, the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and the 

 Geological Survey. In 1836, to cite 

 an early example of Federal support 

 of a scientific venture, the Wilkes 

 Exploring Expedition was authorized 

 "to expand the bounds of science and 

 to promote knowledge." But the 

 practical nature of all these acti\'ities 

 is evident. Despite several eloquent 

 expressions by scientific men of the 

 important long-run utility of sponsor- 

 ing pure science, the Congress turned 

 a deaf ear to all proposals for creating 

 scientific institutions having anything 

 but limited and strictly utilitarian 

 purposes. Washington's plan for a 

 national university, and the various 

 suggestions for a Government-spon- 

 sored academy or a national institu- 

 tion had the support of public figures 

 like Jefferson, Madison, and John 

 Quincy Adams but were unpopular 

 in Congress and were often strenu- 

 ously opposed by the older private 

 colleges. 



If Government support for science 

 was not forthcoming, neither was 

 support from private gifts or bequests. 

 It is significant that the first consid- 

 erable sum for the support of pure 

 science came from a foreigner, the 

 Englishman James Smithson, with 

 whose bequest Congress — after de- 

 bating its acceptance and disposition 

 for nearly 10 years — created the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



As a result of the profound forces 

 which were converting America in 

 the last decade of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury from an essentially backward 

 agricultural Nation to a world power, 

 changes took place in our attitudes 

 toward science and learning and to- 

 ward the encouragement that should 

 properly be accorded them. The State 



universities and land-grant colleges 

 grew and prospered through generous 

 public support. Science also became 

 one of the beneficiaries of the pri\'ate 

 fortunes built up in the later nine- 

 teenth century. Whereas earlier it 

 had been evident that only the Gov- 

 ernment could assume the burden of 

 erecting and supporting an astronomi- 

 cal observatory, there were now men 

 like James Lick with fortunes large 

 enough to build and endow such ex- 

 pensive centers of research. Equally 

 important were the contributions of 

 private philanthropy in developing 

 universities and in the direct support 

 of research through the creation of 

 nonprofit science institutions and 

 philanthropic foundations. 



Two of our best-known privately 

 endowed institutions devoted to pure 

 research, the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington and the Rockefeller In- 

 stitute, were created shortly after the 

 turn of the century. From the same 

 gigantic fortunes stemmed the Rocke- 

 feller Foundation and the Carnegie 

 Corporation. Their tremendous con- 

 tributions to the progress of scientific 

 research, not only in America, but 

 throughout the world, cannot be ex- 

 aggerated. 



The latter part of the nineteenth 

 and the early twentieth centuries 

 witnessed the de\'elopment of the 

 American medical schools, which to- 

 day serve as research centers not only 

 for applied or practical medicine but 

 for fundamental research in many 

 biological problems which are basic 

 to medicine. The medical schools 

 appear to have been particularly at- 

 tractive objects of private philan- 

 thropy. Various factors, such as the 

 regulation of standards by the pro- 

 fession at large and the active inter- 

 est of two or three of the largest 

 foundations, haye gi\'en to the medi- 



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