REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 



The Seventeenth volume consists of: 



The Smithsonian Institution: Documents relative to its origin and 

 history : Edited by William J. Rhees, 1879, 1027 pp. 



The Eighteenth volume consists of: 



The Smithsonian Institution, Journals of the Board of Eegents, Re- 

 ports of Committees, Statistics. &c. Edited by William J. Rhees, 1879, 

 852 pp. 



The Xineteentli \o\\xmQ, contains: 



1st. Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Vol. I, 



1878, 521 pp. 



2d. Proceedings of the United States iSTational Museum. Vol. II, 



1879, 503 pp. 



Memoir of James Smithson. — It has long been the intention of the In- 

 stitution to i)ubliah a memoir of its founder, and. from time to time ef- 

 forts have been made to collect materials for this purpose. It is much 

 to be regretted, however, that this work was not undertaken at an earlier 

 date, while some of Smithson's contemporaries Avere living who could 

 have imi>arted valuable information as to his peculiarities and charac- 

 teristics. 



Mr. Rhees, Chief Clerk of the Institution, has at last supplied the 

 want so long felt in the history of this establishment, and has made use 

 of every known source of information in the j)reparation of the work in 

 question. By extensive correspondence and advertisements in several 

 of the leading English periodicals some facts of interest not hitherto 

 known were secured, and the author was thus enabled to present a 

 more extended notice of Smithson than was at first anticipated. 



The memoir under notice commences with a sketch of the ancestry of 

 the Smithson family, gives an account of the education of James Smith- 

 son at the Oxford University, where he graduated in 1786, describes his 

 devotion to scientific pursuits, his love of adventure in the search for 

 knowledge, recou^nts his achievements as a chemist and mineralogist, 

 enumerates his published scientific works, and gives the testimonials to 

 his worth and ability from the president of the Royal Society and 

 others. 



An inventory of his personal effects is presented, and an account of 

 the likenesses of Mr. Smithson known to be in existence and in the pos- 

 session of the Institution. 



Some attention is paid to a consideration of the motives which probably 

 actuated Smithson in bequeathing his fortune to the United States, and 

 a resume is given of the intellectual condition of the period in which he 

 lived, which is shown to have exhibited a remarkable spirit of scientific 

 activity, and the formation at that time of some of the most important 

 organizations for the advancement of science, education, and i)hilan- 

 thropy. 



S. Mis. 31 3 



