REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. rt | 
It was a scientific Englishman, a skillful analytical chemist of Lon- 
don, who conceived the thought and provided the means whereby Prof. 
Henry was enabled to ac complish so much further good. Arts may 
have been lost or forgotton, because no longer needed, and the world’s 
libraries and universities already possessed in abundance the vast 
accumulations of knowledge which had for ages been garnered and 
stored away in these y raluable repositories of learning, yet nature re- 
mained so bountiful that there could be no danger that her fountains 
would become exhausted, and Mr. Smithson provided for an institution 
which accepts all the past, and provides only for the future. He en- 
dowed munificently the institution (which bears his name here in 
Washington) for collecting new knowledge, and for distributing it to 
all parts of the earth. Great was the conception, generous the endow- 
ment, and fortunate that the execution fell to the lot of Prof. Henry. 
¥* * * * * * * 
For this reason the memory of his life and fame should be treasured 
by all as an example to the youth of our land to show that honor and 
fame may be earned in the school of philosophy as well as in the more 
tempting and active scenes of public life. 
Many students, who at this moment are hard at work on their studies 
for the advantage of mankind, will feel themselves personally encour- 
aged and honored by the tokens of respect and affection thus paid their 
prototy pe, Prof. Henry; and their stimulated labors in the cause of 
that science he loved so well will erect to him a monument more lasting 
than of brass or marble. 
On January 17, 1879, Gen. Sherman was elected by the Board a mem- 
ber of the commission for erecting the National Museum building, and 
on March 7 he was chosen chairman of this commission. 
“The office of member of this commission,” he says in his first report, 
presented January 19, 1880, “has been by no means a sinecure, weekly 
meetings having been held with scarcely an interruption from the first 
organization.” 
The second report Gen. Sherman presented January 18, 1881, and the 
final report January 2, 1882. In the latter he ‘‘ begs to refer to the im- 
portant fact that, while a building is presented equal in every respect 
to what was anticipated - - - instead of incurring a deficiency, the 
fund has been so managed as to have to its credit an available balance 
of some thousands of dollars.” 
Gen. Sherman took a great interest in carrying into effect the act of 
Congress providing for a statue of Prof. Henry. He was active in in- 
ducing Congress to appropriate money to fireproof the east wing of the 
Smithsonian building, and he was elected January 17, 1883, by the 
Board with the chancellor and secretary upon a special commission ‘to 
act for and in the name of the Board in carrying into effect any act of 
Congress which might be passed providing for the erection of an addi- 
tional building for the National Musewn.” 
His second term as regent expired March 25, 1885, when he removed 
his residence to New York. He died February 14, "1891. For eleven 
years Gen. Sherman was diligent, active, attentive, and enthusiastic in 
his devotion to the Institution. 
