REPORT ON THE HENRY STATUE. XXXI 



favor the attempt to found a splendid library, for few men were more 

 sensitive to its charms or appreciative of its power. Much less that he 

 did not understand the value of a museum to an ardent interest in which 

 he was pledged by his fondness for natural history and his curious zeal 

 in ethnology and archeology, but because he saw a need and opportu- 

 nity for an institution that should be limited to the increase and diffu- 

 sion of scientific knowledge. Finis coronat opus. The experiment has 

 justified the theory. Not only have the workings of the Smithsonian 

 Institution vindicated the wisdom of his anticipations, but it is itself a 

 monument to his strong convictions and unyielding tenacity, tempered 

 as these were by singular simplicity, patience, and unselfishness. Had 

 it not been for these characteristics the Smithsonian Institution as we 

 know it would never have existed at all. Were it not for the modesty 

 of the man we could hear this statue speak as it surveys the scene of 

 his life-work, Si monumentum quccris, circumspice. More than this should 

 be said. Every one of the great interests which were at first loaded 

 upon the Institution, as the National Library, the Museum, and a collec- 

 tion of Art, has in the end been better provided for and attained a more 

 vigorous growth or a more hopeful promise than had Professor Henry's 

 policy failed. Had he relaxed from his tenacity, or had a man of less 

 commanding influence represented his opinions, these separate interests 

 might have foundered with the central bureau, or had the Smithsonian 

 Institution survived, it might have been what it seems to many a casual 

 visitor — merely a show place to stimulate and gratify an aimless curi- 

 osity, or in which to pass an idle hour of gazing and wonder — instead 

 of being what it is, a busy working place, where research is devised, di- 

 rected, stimulated, and rewarded, at which its results are reported and 

 thence diffused through the countless nerve centers which animate and 

 build the complicated organisnrwhich maintains the scientific life of the 

 civilized world. In this organism this Institution holds a place and 

 performs a function which has no exact counterpart. It is a function 

 which is specially needed in a young and growing country like our own, 

 so vast in its spaces, so comprehensive in its geology, so varied in its 

 climate, so ample in its physical resources, so fascinating in its archae- 

 ology, So mysterious in its ethnology, so instructive in its history — all 

 the parts of which are connected by political bonds with its capital, 

 and respond with a more or less ready sympathy to the pulses of life 

 which throb at the Nation's heart. It was no slight service which Pro- 

 fessor Henry rendered to his country as well as to the world when he 

 gave character and efficiency to this new agency in the life of both. 



To mature and carry into effect the conception of such an institution, 

 with no model after which to copy, was the work of a master mind and 

 was worthy of a devoted and laborious life. That Professor Henry 

 gave to this work the best activities of more than thirty years no man 

 will doubt j that he was unwearied in his labors and cares, faithful to 

 the minutest details and energetic in administration, is confessed by all 



