SJIITI I SO MAN I XSTIT UTION. 



to fill existing vacancies in the Board, and that re- 

 quest will doubtless be complied with. (u. c. s.) 



SMITHS. .MAN i \. This highly 



important American scientific institution lias been 

 already partly considered under ACADEMIES op 801- 

 UB (q. r.). It was founded in accordance with the 

 torina of a bequest niadu by James Smitlison, of 

 England, of whose life and services to science we 

 may fitly here give a brief resume. He was born 

 about 1765, being a natural son of James Smithson, 

 first duke of Northumberland, by Klmibeth M.icie, 

 and long bore the name of James Lowi-i 

 adapting that of Sraithson somewhere between 1791 

 and 181)3. He studied at Oxford, and graduated from 

 I'embroke College in 17K(i, becoming a Fellow of 

 val Society the next year. He devoted him- 

 self to the study of science, particularly of chcmis- 

 ti y. and became an associate and friend of Sir Hum- 

 phry D.IVV, Sir Joseph Hanks, anil Dr. Wollastou. 

 The results of his scientific observations were pub- 

 lished in Phibutrtphk-iil Transaction*. Annnls nf Phi- 

 Innnphy, and other scientific periodicals, and included 

 treatises " O.i the OJtnpOHtton mul Crystallization 

 of certain Sulphurets from Huel Boys in Cornwall," 

 " Facts Relating to the Coloring Matter of V 

 bias," etc. He died at Genoa, Italy, on June 27, 

 1829, leaving by will the whole of his prop. 

 the United States, for the purpose of founding at 

 Washington an institution, to be known under his 

 name, "for the increase and diffusion of knowledg' 

 among men." 



This bequest, amoun'ing to more than 8500,000, 

 was one of the first of those far-seeing Rifts to man- 

 kind which have been of such great service to the 

 progress of human knowledge, and the example of 

 which is now being somewhat frequently followed. 

 The bnquest was accepted by Congress. June !, 

 1836, and was placed under interest immediately on 

 reaching the treasury, Sept. 1, 1838. It is now 

 invested in the G per cent, gold interest bonds of 

 the United States, and has been managed so skil- 

 fully and economically that tho building has I.e. n 

 erected solely from the interest, while the i 

 over that used for this and other purposes has been 

 added to the principal until this lias increased 

 nearly $200,000. Th" ultimate limit of tho princi- 

 pal sum has been fixed by law ut 1,000, 000. 



The Smithsonian Institution was established by 

 act of Congress, Aug. 10, 1846. It was to be ad- 

 ministered by a Board of Regents, composed of the 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, th;' 

 appointed by tho Viee-1'resjdent, three Kep, 

 tives chosen by tho Speaker of the House, and six 

 citizens chosen by Congress. The Representatives 

 were to serve 2 years, the Senators for term of ofliro, 

 the citizens for <> ye.irs, the services of all lo be gra- 

 tuitous. This Board meets annually in January, and 

 receives and transmits to Congress tin- report of its 

 Secretary, who is also Secretary of the Institution. 

 In addition to the Hoard of Regents, the President, 

 Vice-President, Cabinet Officers, and such honorary 

 members us they may elect are by law constituted 

 an " establishment," or board of visitors, which is 

 entitled tho Smithsonian Institution. The Regents 

 and the honorary members of the " establishment" 

 hitherto chosen have been men of eminence and 

 uprightness as statesmen, the citizen members from 

 the several states being selected for their high char- 

 acter and position, and literary or scientific reputa- 

 tion. 



The building which has been erected for the pur- 

 poses of the Smithsonian Institution is an incising 

 edifice, of the order of architecture known as Nor- 

 man, or Romanesque. Its material is a red sandstone 

 from the quarries of Sonera Creek, near Washington, 

 the stone being rather soft when quarried, but hard- 

 ening and developing great resisting qualities when 



; exposed to the atmosphere. The edifice consist* of 

 a main central building of two stories, with two wings 

 connected by intermediate ranges. The dii 

 of the main building are 205 1>\ ">7 feet and M fe. t 

 high, with two towers in the centre of the principal 

 front, the higher of which is 11(1 feet in elevation. 

 On the south front is a massive tower :>1 feel high, 

 and the building in all possesses 9 towel's. V 

 tire length i.s 117 feet, and the greatest breadth Itill. 

 The first story of the main building is one l.u-.-e 

 room, 200 by 50 feet in dimensions and -J5 feet, high, 

 with a row of columns down the centre. The M 

 story has a room of equal area without supporting 

 columns. 



The comer-stone of this edifice was laid, May 1, 

 1847, with Masonic ceremonies, in the preset 



I'olk and his cabinet, the oration being de- 

 liveied by the Vice-President, George M. Dallas. 

 On Jan. i, l^*i.">, it took fire from a defective fine 

 and was partly destroyed, the west end and part of 

 itre being burned. Much valuable material 

 \\as destroyed by this fire, among it the Stanley gal- 

 lery nf Indian paintings, an irreparable loss. Its 

 i.nly counterpart is the Catlin gallery, now in the 

 care of the Institution. The building has been 

 slowly restored from the income, without detriment 

 to the scientific work of the Institution, and is now a 

 Cue-proof structure, situated in the park reservation 

 and thus removed from all danger of conflagration. 



By law the Smithsonian Institution is the deposi- 

 tary of tho United States National Museum, which 

 was at first, partly supported by its funds, but is now 

 sustained at the sole expense of the goveit 

 This museum, beginning with the scientific n; 

 collected by tho Wilkes exploring expedition, find 

 designed to contain "all objects of art and of for- 

 eign and curious research, and all objects of natural 

 history, plants, and geological and niineralogiral 

 -; belonging or hereafter to belong to the 

 United States," has greatly augmented, and become 

 ich in many departments that the building of tho 

 Institution is quite- insufficient to contain it, and an 

 adjoining edifice of very extensive floor-space has 

 ben for that purpose. The Smithsonian 



building now contains only natural history and other 

 strictly scientific material, while much of this, to- 

 gether with a vast accumulation of objects of human 

 !.:is been removed to the new edifice. The ait 

 Collections are DOV deposited in the Corcoran Gal- 

 lery, while (he library, of 75,000 volumes, has b- ( n 

 added to the Library of Congress, and forms the Nal- 

 uial i Vie] section of that library. 



In this way the extiaoidinarily large collection of 

 materials made within forty years has been disp- 

 of, and the Institution left to its legitimate functioi s 

 of " tin' inci-i ase. and diffusion of knowh 

 men." In the furtherance of this purpose, t: 

 stitution has from time to time taken upon itself 

 functions from which it has been since relieved by 

 net of ( Thus for a number of years it con- 



ducted a series of meteorological observations, and 

 began that systematic study of the weather which is 

 now performed by tho Weather Bureau of the gov- 

 ernment. In like manner, its herbarium and ento- 

 mological collection has been transferred to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, which now conducts tho 

 ii.iportant study of insect-ravages upon agriculture. 

 Thus one by one departments of study adopted by 

 the Institution have been removed from it, and it* 

 income is now used for strictly scientific pin; 

 without special regard to economic considerations. 

 It is, in fact, now restricted to its original pur] 

 "tho increase and diffusion of knowledge," the first 

 being achieved by scientific study of the nmteiial 

 which is constantly flowing in from government 

 and private exploring parties in all parts of the 

 country ; tho second, by iU useful work of receiving 



