2 REPOET OP THE ACTING SECRETARY. 



the diiRciilties which had presented themselves to the human intellect 

 from the abstractions of the mathematician and the metaphysician 

 to the mysteries of the theologian and the secrets of lost civilizations. 



But this great man also lived upon the earth. In his youth and 

 earlier manhood he had a business training and a business career, 

 and he carried to the verge of the grave most scrupulously exact 

 business methods. His theory of administration lay mainly in select- 

 ing men whom he could trust, and when he found that this trust was 

 justified, in giving them his unbounded confidence. A man of the 

 world, he yet retained the simplicity and rigid straightforwardness 

 of the Puritan character, and though the arts of flattery were un- 

 known to him, he bound to himself with indissoluble ties of affection, 

 respect, and loyalty those who had the opportunity of coming 

 closely in contact with him. 



With this Institution he had completely merged his life ; not even 

 his favorite scientific pursuits weighed where the interests of the In- 

 stitution were concerned ; in season and out of season it was the object 

 of his constant care. To it he added two new and important activi- 

 ties, the Astrophysical Observatory and tiie National Zoological 

 Park. It was during his administration that the Smithson fund 

 received its only considerable additions since the original gift, and 

 that the new building for the National Museum was authorized by 

 Congress. 



The elegance of his style in writing and the clearness of his pres- 

 entation, no matter what the subject might be, greatly enhanced the 

 Institution's reputation both here and abroad. Hardly any other 

 American man of science so frequently met the learned men of the 

 Old World or received so many distinctions from the academies and 

 universities and societies of Great Britain and the Continent. 



He was not by any means solely devoted to the natural or physical 

 sciences. The breadth of his knowledge of the things that make for 

 culture, and especially his interest in the fine arts were almost equal 

 to his devotion to science, and his wide knowledge of history, though 

 confined to no one country, was more especially directed to France, 

 with whose annals and memoirs his acquaintance was almost that of 

 an expert. His literary sense, not surpassed by even the most culti- 

 vated of men, took the double direction of an enjoyment of all that 

 was good in the best of literature, and an attempt to produce writing 

 on scientific subjects which should be clear and intelligible to the 

 man of ordinary education, and sometimes even to the child. 



Many of these personal characteristics were reflected in the con- 

 duct of the Institution during his incumbency. The Smithsonian 

 Report was made more popular in the best sense, conveying exact 



