Atigust 8, 1889] 



NA rURE 



347 



Smithsonian Institution" (thirty-two volumes), containing 

 also very valuable records, catalogues, and memoirs. 



Another part of the income was applied in accordance 

 with the requirements of the Act of Congress to the 

 gradual formation of a library and a museum. But in 

 1866 the library was amalgamated with the Library of 

 Congress and lodged in the Capitol. The Library, how- 

 ever is, open throughout the year with equal facilities for 

 students, including the free use of the books of both 

 collections. In 1852, Mr. Henry established what is 

 known as the " Smithsonian system of exchanges," 

 whereby, in exchange for those of America, the- scientific 

 publications of Societies and individuals throughout the 

 civilized world are made accessible without cost to the 

 students of science in America. This system has added 

 to the Library almost complete series of the Transactions 

 of many of the older Societies of England, P'rance, and 

 Germany, which it would now be difficult if not impossible 

 to replace. They comprise hundreds of works which, 

 like those of the Societies in question, can be obtained in 

 no other way than by exchange. The collection is now 

 the best in existence. 



In his evidence before the Royal Commission on 

 Scientific Instruction (English), June 1870, Mr. Henry 

 said : — 



"This is considered a very important part of the plan 

 of operations. Not only are books distributed, but the 

 Institution has commenced the practice of distributing 

 specimens of natural history over the world and getting 

 others in exchan;^e. As an interesting fact in connection 

 with this system, I may mention that all the lines of 

 steamers convey the Smithsonian packages free of cost, 

 and also that they are admitted through all Custom houses 

 without being opened, and free from all duties in all 

 countries." 



This generous system is still in operation, and has 

 been very much extended. 



In 1858 the United States Government transferred the 

 National Museum (established 1842) to the custody of the 

 Smithsonian Institution with the same amount of annual 

 appropriation (S4000) which had been granted to the 

 United States Patent Office when in charge of it ; but 

 this annual appropriation has now been increased to 

 about $40,000. A new Museum was built at a cost of 

 3350,000.00, and at the last session of Congress a Bill 

 appropriating $500,000.00 for the construction of a second 

 Museum building passed the Senate, but was not brought 

 to vote in the House of Representatives. The Secretary 

 has no doubt, however, but that in a year or two a build- 

 ing much larger than the present one will be supplied. 



The National Museum is in three divisions — the 

 Museum of Record, the Museum of Research, and the 

 Educational Museum — and there are departments, with 

 twenty-four curators and sub-curators, of arts and in- 

 dustries, ethnology, antiquities, mammals, birds, fishes, 

 comparative anatomy, mollusks, insects, marine inverte- 

 brates, invertebrate fossils, plants, minerals, lithology and 

 physical geology, metallurgy and economic geology. 

 There are, in addition, chemical and natural history 

 laboratories, and a bureau of ethnology. 



" So rapidly were the treasures of the Museum increased 

 by the gathered fruits of various Government explorations 

 and surveys, as well as by the voluntary contributions of 

 the numerous and widesprea:! tributaries of the Institution, 

 that the policy was early adopted of freely distributing 

 duplicate specimens to other institutions where they would 

 be mo3t appreciated and most usefully applied. And in 

 this way the Smithsonian became a valuable centre of 

 diffusion of the means of investigation. The clear fore- 

 sight which announced that the Museum must soon 

 outgrow the entire capacity of the Smithsonian resources 

 was amply vindicated ; but the strong desire of Joseph 

 Henry to see established in Washington a National 

 Museum he did not live to see gratified" (" Memorial of 



Joseph Henry," discourse of W. B. Taylor, p. 285). 

 He died May 13, 1878. 



An extensive system of meteorological observations 

 was instituted in 1849. About six hundred observers, 

 scattered over the United States and the Territories, 

 became voluntary correspondents of the Institution. This 

 department was transferred in 1872 to the newly-esta- 

 blished Meteorological Department established by the 

 Government under the Signal Office of the War Depart- 

 ment. The digested observations have been published in 

 the " Contributions to Knowledge." 



The memoirs in the quarto volumes of the " Contri- 

 butions to Knowledge ' (over 120) are universally recog- 

 nized as valuable original authorities on their respective 

 topics. There is no restriction as to the subject of re- 

 search, and they consist of archaeological, anthropological, 

 botanical, geological, pateontological, meteorological, 

 magnetical, physical, physiological, and philological 

 observations, investigations on the solar system, the 

 laws of atmospheric circulation, and systems of con- 

 sanguinity and affinity. They have undoubtedly tended 

 " to increase and diffuse knowledge." 



The thirty-odd volumes of the " Smithsonian Miscel- 

 laneous Collections" are of a more technical character 

 than the " Contributions," including systematic and stat- 

 istical compilations, scientific summaries, and valuable 

 accessions of tabular "constants." Scientific men gener- 

 ally have applauded the value and acknowledged theii 

 indebtedness to publications comprise i in this series, 

 which include such scientific classics as Clark's " Con- 

 stants of Nature," Guyot's " Meteorological and Physical 

 Tables," Watson's "North American Botany," Binney 

 and Tryon's " Land and Fresh-water Shells of North 

 America"; North American "Coleoptera" by Le Conte, 

 "Diptera" by Loevv, " Lepidoptera " by Morris, and 

 "Neuroptera" by Hagen. 



All these are distributed over every portion of the 

 civilized and colonized world, and constitute a monument 

 to the memory of James Smithson, such as never before 

 was built on the foundation of one hundred thousand 

 pounds. 



II.— The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 



Johns Hopkins, a merchant of Baltimore, who died in 

 1873, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, bequeathed a 

 large part of his fortune to two institutions which per- 

 petuate his name — the Johns Hopkins University and 

 the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Each foundation received 

 an endowment of not far from tliree and a half million 

 dollars, or about ^700,000. The two institutions are 

 separate corporations, but are closely affiliated. The 

 University has just concluded its thirteenth year of work. 

 Since its opening, in 1S76, it has issued frequent state- 

 ments of the develojjment of its plans in the form of 

 Annual Reports. 



The Johns Hopkins University is an unsectarian 

 foundation. There is no test for the assent of students 

 or Professor?. This is the especial privilege of the new 

 institutions for higher education that have sprung up of 

 late years. " No hungry tradition treads them down." 

 They approach the problem of education untrammelled 

 by customary practice ; yet, utilizing the experience 

 gained by the older Universities, they mike more inde- 

 pendent and original attempts at its solution. 



Universities as a rule have grown from an aggregation 

 of Colleges ; the University, in process of time, being 

 evolved as a supplement to collegiate training. The 

 Johns Hopkins University is an exception to this rule. 

 In accordance with the terms of the gifts, the institution 

 started with the idea of the University, in the higher con- 

 ception of that word, as a universal school and a foster- 

 ing mother. Not merely a place in which degrees are 

 granted in the Faculties of Arts, Sciences, Divinity, Law, 

 or Medicine, but as an organized force for the education 



