57 2 The Smithsonian Institution 



these and other publications, without cost, to thousands of its 

 correspondents all over the civilized globe. 



It is by these and like services to the world at large that 

 the Institution is known and valued among the wide commu- 

 nity of scientific men. 



But this enumeration does not in itself exhibit the im- 

 mense influence which it has exerted in its own country. 

 Up to the beginning of the war of the Revolution American 

 science was in leading-strings as the child of British learn- 

 ing. It was not until the first third of the present century 

 had elapsed that any considerable part of the energies of 

 our young country could be turned from pressing material 

 needs and devoted to scientific ends. It was of the first im- 

 portance that the beginnings of independent investigation 

 among Americans should be directed toward right ends, and 

 by high and unselfish aims. In the formation of a scientific 

 standard among us, a few names will ever be remembered, 

 and among them that of Professor Henry, the first Secre- 

 tary of the Smithsonian Institution, stands preeminent. The 

 ardent spirit of his early manhood excited his contemporar- 

 ies to a generous emulation, and it ripened with time to a 

 broad, grave, and kind wisdom, which profoundly influenced 

 a younger generation of scholars, his successors and his scien- 

 tific children. 



It is not unlikely that the greatest service of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution to the country has been the constant ex- 

 hibition, in its general policy and in its daily relations for 

 half a century, of a high and generous ideal. Its influence in 

 this direction cannot be over-estimated ; and the source of this 

 influence was in the character of its organizer. Any sketch 

 of its services would be most inadequate which failed to em- 

 phasize this fundamental point. 



A complete list of all the publications of the Smithsonian 



