SMYTH SNAKES. 



539 



and distributing to learned bodies and individuals 

 at home the publications of similar bodies and in- 

 dividuals abroad, and by the highly valuable pub- 

 lications which it issues from time to time. 



The publications of the Institution comprise three 

 scries, the first and most important being Smithso- 

 nian Contributions to Knowledge, embracing records of 

 original investigation which have resulted in what 

 appear to be new truths and constitute positive addi- 

 tions to the sum of humau knowledge. Of this series 

 25 volumes have been issued. Second, Smithsonian 

 Misiwllaneoii* Collection*, containing reports of the 

 state of knowledge in particular branches of science, 

 lists and synopses of species, reports of explorations, 

 instructions for collecting, etc. This series now 

 immbers 33 volumes. Third, Annual Report of the 

 Smit/tsouiaii Institution, in which, in add'tion to the 

 business report, interesting foreign and American 

 scientific treatises have been published, and of late 

 years an annual report of the general progress of 

 science in all its branches. The publications of the 

 National Museum, of the Bureau of Ethnology, and 

 of the Philosophical Society of Washington are also 

 published under the auspices of the Institution, while 

 with its work has of late years been associated the 

 scientific observations of the United States Fish 

 Commission, which is now under the control of the 

 Secretary of the Institution, and much of whose 

 studies in development, artificial fertilization, etc., has 

 been done within its walls. Tho vast mass of mate- 

 rial, indeed, which has steadily poured in from every 

 direction and many sources, has proved beyond the 

 ability of the scientific corps of the Institution to 

 handle, and much of it remains in an inchoate condi- 

 tion, the more perishable portion slowly becoming 

 useless for want of prompt handling. Th:s is a state 

 of affairs for which the governing powers of the In- 

 stitution are not responsible, but which sadly needs I 

 remedy, either by a decided increase of the scientific 

 corps, or a check to the inflow of material until that 

 now accumulated c:\n bo studied and disposed of. 

 Scientific material which cannot bo promptly handled 

 woirld, as a rule, bo far better left to its natural hab- 

 itat and condition. 



The Smithsonian Institution has, almost since its 

 inception, been nnder the control of two of our 

 prominent scientists, men remarkably well adapted 

 to develop the important interests committed to 

 their care. The first Secretary, elected at the foun- 

 dation of the Institution in 184(5, was Prof. Joseph 

 Henry, the eminent electrician, than whom no man 

 stands higher in the ranks of American scientists. 

 Prof. Henry was strictly conservative in his direction 

 of the important trust confided to him, and aimed 

 rather to diffuse knowledge and stimulate research 

 than to make large collections of material. In 1850 

 Spencer F. Baird was elected Assistant Secretary, 

 and to him was committed the control of the Na- 

 tional Museum, which Prof. Henry had regarded 

 rather as a departure from the original design of the 

 Institution. Prof. B.iird took active measures to de- 

 velop the museum by enlisting in the service the 

 leaders of government explorations, providing them 

 with materials and instructions, and organizing nat- 

 ural history parties in connection with all important 

 expedition*. His annmtl report constitutes the only 

 systematic record of the national explorations ever 

 prepared. In 1871 Prof. Baird was appointed ('<>m- 

 inissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and in May, 1878, 

 on the death of Prof. Henry, was made full Secretary 

 of the Institution. He died, August 19, 1887, and 

 has been succeeded in the Secretaryship by Prof. 

 Samuel P. Langley, the eminent astronomer, re- 

 cently director of the observatory at Allegheny City, 

 Pa. George Brown Goode, who has for years been 

 employed in the National Museum, has been ap- 

 pointed Assistant Secretary, the management of the 



National Museum being placed in his hands. There 

 is every reason to believe that the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, under this new management, with the ex- 

 perience and material gained during its former his- 

 tory, and its release from functions not directly in 

 its designed linte of work, will rapidly advance in 

 usefulness and assume a position in the world of 

 science on a level with that of the best equipped 

 scientific institutions of foreign lands. (o. M.) 



SMYTH, CHARLES PIAZZI, English astronomer, 

 was born Jan. 3, 1819, being son of Admiral William 

 Henry Smyth, and grandson of J. B. Palmer Smyth, 

 of New Jersev, a loyalist in the American Revolu- 

 tion. W. H. Smyth (1788-1805) entered the British 

 navy in 1805, and, after honorable service in the wars 

 of Napoleon's time, was appointed to make a hydro- 

 graphical survey of the coasts of Sicily, afterward of 

 the Adriatic, and finally of the entire Mediterranean. 

 He became rear-admiral in 1863, and devoted much 

 time to astronomy. He erected private observator- 

 ies at Bedford and Cardiff, and was president of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society. He died at Aylesbury, 

 Sept. 9, 1865. His son, Charles Piazzi, had been 

 trained in his father's observatory, and afterward 

 was employed in the observatory at the Cape of Good 

 Hope under T. Maclear. He made a valuable series 

 of observations from the peak of Teneriffe in 1856, 

 which were published in his book Teneriffe, an As- 

 tronomer's Experiment (1858). This was the first 

 work illustrated by stereoscopic views. In 1843 

 Prof. Smyth was made astronomer royal of Scot- 

 laud, and he has pursued scientific work in other 

 countries. His most notable research was in regard 

 to the Great Pyramid of Egypt, which ho came to 

 regard as built under Divine inspiration to fix a 

 standard of weights and measures. This extravagant 

 theory received some favor with a portion of the 

 public, but not among the best scientists. Tho 

 author defended it in three works: Our Inheritance 

 in the Great J'yramid (1SG4), Life and Work at tie 

 Great Pyramid (3 vols., 1867), find Antiquity r>f lutel- 

 {'i.tnal Uan (1868). He published also Three Cities 

 <fllns*i<i (1862), and some other works. 



SMYTH, NEWMAN, Congregationalist pastor, was 

 bom at Brunswick, Maine, June 25, 1843. His full 

 name was Samuel Phillips Newman Smyth, but in 

 recent years he has discarded the two first. He 

 graduated at Bowdoin College in 1863, and at An- 

 dover Seminary in 1867. He travelled in Europe in 

 1868, and in 1870 became pastor of the First Church 

 at Bangor, Maine. In 1876 he accepted a call to the 

 First Presbyterian Church, Quincy, 111., whence in 

 INNJ he was called to a professorship in Andover 

 Seminary, but his views in regard to the future stato 

 having provoked a controversy, he was not installed. 

 He then 1 ecame pastor of the first Congregational 

 Church, New Haven. His publications are The Ke- 

 H'/ioKx Feeling : < Study for Faith (1877) ; Old Fait/a 

 in New Light (1879) ; 'Orthodox Theology of To-day 

 (1881); Reality of Faith (1884). 



SMYTH, THOMAS (1808-1873), Presbyterian min- 

 ister, was born in Belfast, Ireland, June 14, 1808. 

 He was educated at Belfast College, and studied 

 theology at Highbury College, London, and after- 

 ward at Princeton. He was ordained pastor of the 

 Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston, S. C., 

 Dec. 29, 1834, and held this position until his death, 

 Aug. 20, 1873. He was a firm upholder of the faith 

 mid practice of his church, and advocated its cause 

 in several popular treatises. 



SNAKE-BIRD. See ANHDJGA. 



SNAKES. This article has regard chiefly to the 

 more noteworthy of the numerous species of snake 

 found in America. 



The Hopoterodont serpents, or "blind-worms," 

 are worm-like creatures, generally very small, nearly 

 all living underground, and with the eyes as a rule 



