TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-47. 369 



servant, (now all deceased,) " to the United States of Ameri- 

 ca; to found, at Washington, under the name of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and 

 diffusion of knowledge among men." 



" An institution for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men." These are the words, and tlie only 

 words, that remain to us as a guide in framing a Smithsonian 

 bill; our sole guide; unless, indeed, Ave are to summon, as 

 a commentary on the text of the will, and an additional 

 indication of the probable intentions of Mr. Smithson, such 

 particulars as have reached us touching his private character 

 and habits. These are very scanty. Mr. Rush says : 



" What I have heard and may confide in, amounts to this : that he was, 

 in fact, the natural son of the Duke of Northumberland ; that his mother 

 was a Mrs. Macie, of an ancient family in Wiltshire, of the name of Ilun- 

 gerford ; that ho was educated at Oxford, where he took an honorary degree 

 in 1786 ; that he does not appear to have any fixed home, living in lodgings 

 while in London, and occasionally staying a year or two at a time in cities 

 on the continent, as Paris, Berlin, Florence, Genoa, at which last he died ; 

 and that the ample provision made for him by the Duke of Northumber- 

 land, with retired and simple habits, enabled him to accumulate the for- 

 tune which now passes to the United States." — Report 277, H. R., 26t/i 

 Cong., 1st. Sess., p. 99. 



Mr. Rush further says : 



" He interested himself little in questions of government, being devoted 

 to science, and chiefly chemistry. This had introduced him to the society 

 of Cavendish, Wollaston, and others advantageously known to the Koyal 

 Society in London, of which he was a member." — Ibid. 



In a " Memoir of the Scientific Character and Researches 

 of James Smithson," prepared two years ago by Professor 

 Johnson, of Philadelphia, there are enumerated twenty- 

 lour papers or treatises by Smithson, published in the 

 " Transactions of the Royal Society," and other scientific 

 journals of the day, containing contributions chiefly to the 

 sciences of mineralogy, geology, and, more especially, min- 

 eral chemistry. Some of these contain acute suggestions 

 regarding geological theories, since confirmed by more mod- 

 ern observation; others evince the minute care and accuracy 

 demanded by quantitative analysis ; while one or two, of a 

 more humble character, show that the man of science dis- 

 dained not to apply his knowledge to common things, even 

 to the details of domestic economy. In the " Annals of 

 Philosophy," (vol. xxii, p. 30,) he has a brief tract on the 

 " method of making coffee." It contains the following ex- 

 cellent observation : 



" In all cases means of economy tend to augment and difl'use comfort and 

 happiness. They bring within the reach of many what wasteful proceed- 

 ing confines to the few. IJy diminishing expenditure on one article, they 

 allow some other enjoyment which was before unattainable." 

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