THE HODGKINS FUND OF THE SMITHSONIAN 

 INSTITUTION 



By HELEN WALDO BURNSIDE 



In September, 1891, Mr. Thomas George Hodgkins, of Setauket, 

 New York, after requesting and receiving information in regard 

 to the aims and objects of the Smithsonian Institution, placed in the 

 hands of the Secretary the sum of $200,000, as a gift to the Institu- 

 tion, which was formally accepted at a specially called meeting of 

 the Board of Regents, October 21, 1891. 



Mr. Hodgkins stipulated that the income of $100,000 of his gift 

 should be devoted to the increase and diffusion of more exact knowl- 

 edge in regard to the nature and properties of atmospheric air in 

 connection with the welfare of man ; it was not the donor's inten- 

 tion that the Fund should be limited to special investigation in 

 sanitary science, but that the atmosphere should be considered in 

 its very widest relationship to all branches of research. The income 

 of the remaining $100,000 was to be applied to the general purposes 

 of the Institution. 



Additional gifts were afterward received from Mr. Hodgkins, 

 and, in finally closing the afifairs of his estate, he made the Smith- 

 sonian Institution his residuary legatee, the general Hodgkins Fund 

 being thus increased by a sum the exact amount of which is not yet 

 definitely known. 



In consulting with the Secretary and Assistant Secretary on the 

 application of his gift, Mr. Hodgkins referred to the experiments 

 of Franklin in atmospheric electricity, as an investigation germane 

 to his foundation, and mentioned also the prize awarded by the 

 French Academy of Sciences to Paul Bert for his discovery in 

 regard to the influence of oxygen on the phenomena of vitality, 

 expressing the hope that it might be thought advisable by the In- 

 stitution to oft'er some very considerable prize which, by its magni- 

 tude, would call general attention to the subject in which he was so 

 greatly interested. 



With the intent of thus furthering the donor's wishes, the Hodg- 

 kins Prize Competition was announced in March, 1893, a prize of 



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