370 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



in the daily struggle for existence ; in Europe, conversely, and more 

 especially in France than elsewhere, the few possessors of great for- 

 tunes tend to leave a reputation, perhaps less durable in the end, of 

 philanthrop3^ Their gifts, at least to some extent, might be more 

 judiciously distributed, in the interest of the moral prestige of our 

 country, to aid scientific institutions which struggle so painfully to 

 maintain a glorious past. 



What fortunes, in our annual budget of some 4,000,000,000 francs, 

 go every year to the State to be frittered away without profit to any- 

 one which, if given to one of our great institutions, would revivify 

 their founder's prestige and perhaps yet accomplish great things in 

 the future. 



