288 Memorial of George Brown Goode. 



The Smithsonian Institution, with its dependencies and affiUations, cor- 

 responds perhaps more closely at the present time to Barlow's National 

 Institution than any organization existing elsewhere in the world. The 

 names of its three secretaries — Henry, the physicist (in office from 1846 

 to 1878); Baird, the naturalist (Assistant Secretary from 1850 to 1878, 

 Secretar}^ 1878-1887); and I,angley, the astronomer, suggest in a few 

 words the main features of its histor3\ 



Recurring to Jefferson's presidency, it should be noted that its most 

 important scientific features were the inception of the system of scientific 

 surveys of the public domain, and the organization of the Coast Survey. 

 The first was most peculiarly Jefferson's own, and w'as the outcome of 

 more than twenty 3'ears of earnest endeavor. 



The apath}' of the British Government in colonial times in the matter 

 of explorations of the American continent is inexplicable. Halley, the 

 philosopher and mathematician, was in charge of a fruitless expedition in 

 1699; and Kllis, in 1746, explored Hudson Ba}' under Government 

 auspices, searching for a northwest passage. 



The first inland exploring expedition under Government auspices seems 

 to have been that of Governor Spotsw'ood, of Virginia, who in 1 724, accom- 

 panied by a party of young colonists, made an excursion to the summit 

 of the Blue Ridge for the purpose of ascertaining what lay beyond. 



Nothing else w"as done in colonial days, although it would appear that 

 Jefferson, and doubtless others as well as he, had in mind the importance 

 of exploring the great Northwest. In the recentl}' published life of Mat- 

 thew Fontaine Maury, the story is told of his grandfather, the Rev. James 

 Maury, an Episcopal clergyman and instructor of youth in Walker par- 

 ish, Albemarle County, Virginia, who numbered among his pupils three 

 boys who afterwards became Presidents of the United States and five 

 signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a quiet thinker — a 

 serene old man who gave the week to contemplative thought and to his 

 school, and Sunday to the service of the .sanctuary. In 1756 he was 

 already dazzled by the rising glory of the new country. He was intensely 

 interested in the great Northwest. The Missouri w^as a myth at that time. 

 Cox had ascended the Mississippi to the falls of St. Anthonj^, and reported 

 the existence of .such a .stream, but all beyond was .shrouded in mystery. 



" But .see," .said the aged clergyman, pointing with trembling finger and eager eye 

 to the map of the North American Continent — "see, there must be a large river in that 

 direction: mountains are there, and beyond them there must be a stream to corre- 

 spond with the vast river on this side of the chain." And hy a process of reasoning 

 based on physical geography, he pointed out to his pupils ( Thomas Jeflfenson among 

 them) the exi, tence and line of the river as accurately as Le Verrier did the place 

 of Neptune in the firmament, and predicted that a great higlnvay to the West would 

 .some day be opened in this direction. ' 



It- would appear that Jefferson never forgot the .suggestion of his ven- 

 erable teacher. While minister of the United States in Paris, in 1785, he 



'Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury," by Mrs. D. F. M. Cor1)in, London, 1888, p. 6. 



