THE BENEFACTORS 



By Samuel Pierpont Langley 



^'HE original bequest of James Smithson, to- 

 gether with the accrued interest and savings, 

 constituted a fund of over seven hundred thou- 

 sand dollars. The sum now placed to the credit 

 of the Smithsonian deposit in the Treasury of 

 the United States, together with some securities undeposited, 

 lacks but little of a million, about one quarter of a million of 

 dollars having been added to the original fund in the past 

 five years. 



The addition has been made by several benefactors who 

 have recognized, as years go on, the ever-increasing ability 

 of the Institution to act as trustee for the funds whose grivers 

 have aims in consonance with those of the founder. 



I shall briefly sketch the biography of these men who have 

 given of their means to promote the usefulness of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, and who have expressed their confidence 

 in the policy and permanency of the Institution by making it 

 their trustee in carrying out their design for the increase and 

 diffusion of knowledge among men. Before passing to these, 

 however, the fact should be recalled that the earliest addition 



to the Smithson fund came from the first Secretary, Joseph 



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