634 ENDOWMENT FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



(2) Of these societies, only the Koyal lustitutioii (liiectly supports 

 professors for scientific researcli. It lias two laboratories, one chemical 

 and one physical. These were re-built ni 1872, "in order that original 

 discovery might be more effectively carried on." The society was founded 

 for the declared purpose of "promoting scientific and literary research." 

 It has three professors, — one in chemistry, one in physics, and one in 

 physiology. Bavy, Faraday, Tyndall, and others who have spent their 

 lives there, have made its annals immortal. 



(3) In stimulating research by the api)ropriation of moneys for spe 

 cific objects, the Eoyal Society and the liritish Association are the chief 

 agencies. Besides some of its own funds, the Eoyal Society distributes 

 annually £4,000, or $20,000, granted by the Government "for the ad- 

 vancement of science." This has been done l)y applying it to numerous 

 purposes; in 1891, for fifty-seven different scientific objects, in sums 

 ranging from $25 to $3,000 each; not confined to natural science alone, 

 but including ethnology and magnetic surveys. Most of the grants 

 were in sums of about $35(> or less.* 



The Britisli Association has disbursed annually for the last forty 

 years from $G,000 to $7,000 i)er annum, upon the same system of 

 dividing it up for numerous specific puri)oses; usually from thirty to 

 forty objects yearly, the grants being in sums ranging from $25 to $1,000. 

 The grants are called for and expended for the specific purpose named, 

 and under the direction of some prominent scientific man. Scientists 

 like Sir William Thompson, and others of like renown, have had the 

 administration of many of these grants. These have included for the 

 last six years (save in 1890), the appropriation of $500 per year for a 

 table in the I^ai)les Marine Laboratory.! 



We have no single society in this country, save the Smithsonian, that 

 can rival in importance those that I have named in England. And the 

 Smithsonian is not a society, but an institution, established by one 

 man, and he an Englishman. This Institution, based uj)on the bequest of 

 James Smithson, was founded by act of Congress of August 10, 1846. 

 I doubt whether in any country or in any age the bequest of half a 

 million of dollars has ever been followed by such beneficent results, or 

 has ever so profoundly effected the life of science in any country, as 

 the Smithsonian Institution has done in America during the last forty- 

 four years of its existence. This has been owing (1) to the wisdom and 

 the profound scientific insight of Prof. Henry, its first secretary and 

 director; and (2) to the corps of able assistants and successors whom 

 his spirit and policy have inspired. Its publications number 26 quarto 

 volumes of Contributiotis to Knowledge, 40 volumes of Miscellaneous 

 Collections, and 44 volumes of Annual Reports. Its Contribntions to 

 Knoivledge rival, if they do not excel, in rarity and importance, the 

 publications of any other society during the same period. Its expendi- 



* Proceedings, 1891, vol. L. p. 242. 

 t Report, 1890, p. 90. 



