JAMES SMITHSON AND HIS BEQUEST. 145 



possessors by inheritance, let the trust of James Sniithson to the United 

 States of America be faithfully executed by their representatives in Con- 

 gress, let the result accomplish his object, 'the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among- men,' and a wreath of more unfading verdure shall 

 entwine itself in the lapse of future ages around the name of Smithson, 

 tbau the united hands of tradition, history, and poetry have braided 

 around the name of Percy through the long perspective in ages past of 

 a thousand years." 



The Duke of Northumberland provided a liberal education for his son 

 James, who pursued his studies at Oxford University, where he became 

 attached to Pembroke College, distinguished for having among its 

 fellows the learned Blackstone, the eloquent Whitfield, and the cele- 

 brated Dr. Samuel Johnson. Here the young student was noted for 

 diligence, application, and good scholarship, and attracted marked at- 

 tention by his proficiency in chemistry. His vacations were passed in 

 excursions to collect minerals and ores which it was his favorite occu- 

 pation to analyze. At Oxford he received the impulse for scientific 

 research which characterized all his future life, and the ardent desire not 

 only to advance knowledge himself but to devote in after years his whole 

 fortune to provide means by which others could prosecute this high and 

 noble pursuit. 



He was graduated at Pembroke College on the 2Gth of May, 178G, as 

 James Lewis Macie,* by which name he seems at that time to have 

 been known, and which he retained for about fourteen years, when he 

 adopted that of James SMiTnsoisr.t 



Sniithson never married, and as a man of wealth had ample op- 

 portunity tor leisure or the indulgence of mere personal gratification. 

 Put idleness and pleasure were not compatible with the spirit and ardor 

 of the young student of chemistry. He diligently pursued his investi- 

 gations, and his ambition to become associated with the votaries of 

 science induced him to seek membership in theEoyal Society of London. 



" The Loyal Society of London," says Arago, " enjoys throughout the 

 whole kingdom a vast and deserved consideration. The philosophical 

 transactions which it publishes have been for more than a century and 

 a half the glorious archives in which British genius holds it an honor to 

 deposit its titles to the recognition of posterity. The wish to see his 

 name inscribed in the list of fellow-laborers in this truly national col- 

 lection beside the names of Newton, Bradley, Priestley, and Cavendish, 

 has always been among the students of the celebrated universities of 

 Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, and Dublin, the most anxious as well 

 as legitimate object of emulation. Here is always the highest point of 

 ambition of the man of science." 



*So given in the Oxford Catalogue. In the Philosophical Transactions and the 

 Gentleman's Magazine the name is given as .fames Louis Macie. 



+ His second paper in the Philosophical Transactions, 1602, is by James Sniithson. 

 Sir Davies Gilbert, in his eulogy of him in 1830, calls him James Lewis Smithson. 



S. Mis. 5tt 10 



