JAMES SMITIISON AND HIS BEQUEST. 149 



Trof. Walter E. Johnson has made the following remarks respecting 

 Smithson : 



" It appears from his published works that his was not the character of 

 a mere amateur of science. lie was an active and industrious laborer 

 in the most interesting and important branch of research — mineral 

 chemistry. A contemporary of Davy and of Wollaston, and a corre- 

 spondent of Black, Banks, Thomson, and a host of other names re- 

 nowned in the annals of science, it is evident that his labors had to un- 

 dergo the scrutiny of those who could easily have detected errors, had 

 any of a serious character been committed. His was a capacity by no 

 means contemptible for the operations and expedients of the laboratory. 

 He felt the importance of every help afforded by a simplification of meth- 

 ods and means of research, and the use of minute quantities and accu- 

 rate determinations in conducting his inquiries." 



Sniithson says in one of his papers, " chemistry is yet so new a science," 

 what we know of it bears so small a proportion to what we are iguo- 

 ranf of; our knowledge in every department of it is so incomplete, con- 

 sisting so entirely of isolated points, thinly scattered, like lurid specks on 

 a vast field of darkness, that no researches can be undertaken without 

 producing some facts leading to consequences which extend beyond the 

 boundaries of their immediate object."* 



Many of these "lurid specks " in the vast field of darkness of which 

 Smithson spoke so feelingly, have, Prof. Johnson observes, " since his 

 days of activity expanded iuto broad sheets of light. Chemistry has 

 assumed its rank among the exact sciences. Methods and instruments 

 of analysis unknown to the age of Smithson have come into familiar 

 use among chemists. These may have rendered less available for the 

 present purposes of science than they otherwise might have been, a por- 

 tion of the analysis and other researches of our author. The same may, 

 however, be said of nearly every other writer of his day." 



Although his principal labors were in analytical chemistry, he distin- 

 guished himself by his researches in mineralogy and crystallography, in 

 all his work exhibiting the most careful and minute attention to accu- 

 racy.t In his second published paper, he observes : " It may be proper 

 to say that the experiments have been stated precisely as they turned 

 out, and have not been in the least degree bent to the system." 



That he pursued his investigations in a philosophic spirit, and witli 

 proper methods, is evident from the favor with which his contributions 

 to the scientific societies and transactions of the day were received by 

 his contemporaries, and the fact that the results he reached are still 

 accepted as scientific truths.}: 



*A chemical analysis of some calamines. Smithsonian Miscell. <'<>!!., No. 327, p. 26. 



t lie carefully noted on the margins of his hooks mistakes in grammar or orthography, 

 and frequently corrected erroneous statements or improper references in the indexes. 



{ An account of some of Srnithson's experiments and copies of his notes on minerals 

 and rocks are given in a paper on l lie works and character of James Smithson, by Dr. 

 J. R. McD. Irhy. Smithsonian Miscell. Collections, "No. 327, 1619, p. 143. 



