646 The Smithsonian Institution 



College. Lectures on related subjects were delivered by well- 

 known scientists, including Charles Henry Davis, Henry Dar- 

 win Rogers, Stephen Alexander, Daniel Wilson, and Arnold 

 Guyot. The regular delivery of these lectures was interfered 

 with by the progress of the Civil War, and in 1865 by the fire 

 that destroyed the lecture-room. For a time thereafter the 

 Institution subsidized lecture courses in other institutions 

 in the City of Washington. In the early years, when science 

 had scarcely naturalized itself in this country, these lectures 

 in the national capital, and under quasi-authoritative auspices, 

 served a most valuable purpose in stimulating public interest 

 in scientific subjects. 



