January i6, 1896] 



NATURE 



259 



and his action in bequeathing his estate to the people of America 

 was deliberate and well considered. 



In that admirable little monograph entitled " Smithson and 

 his Bequest," Mr. W. J. Rhees has pointed out that the 

 tendency of the time of Smithson was towards the establishment 

 of permanent scientific institutions. Between 1782 and 1826, 

 over twenty of the most important academies and societies now 

 in existence were organised. "This period," he writes, " was not 

 less marked by the gloom occasioned by long, protracted and 

 almost universal war, and the extent and rapidity of its social 

 changes, than by the lustre of its brilliant discoveries in science, 

 and its useful inventions in the arts. Pure science had many 

 illustrious votaries, and the practical application of its truths 

 gave to the world many of the great inventions by means of 

 which civilisation has made such immense and rapid progress." 

 In support of these statements he quotes the words of Lord 

 Brougham, who said that "to instruct the people in the rudi- 

 ments of philosophy would of itself be an object sufficiently 

 brilliant to allure the noblest ambition." 



It was with a mind full of such thoughts as these, with 

 perhaps the support and inspiration of Lord Brougham's words 

 quoted above from his " Treatise on Popular Education,' 

 printed in 1825, with such models in mind as the Royal Society, 

 whose object is " the improvement of natural knowledge," the 

 Royal Institution " for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating 

 the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and 

 improvements, and for teaching the application of science to the 

 common purposes of life," and the Society for the Diffusion of 

 Useful Knowledge, established in London in 1825, that in 1826 

 Smithson drew up his will, containing this most significant 

 provision : — 



" I BEQUEATH THE WHOLE OF MY PROPERTY TO THE 

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO FOUND AT WASHINGTON, 

 UNDER THE NAME OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, AN 

 ESTABLISHMENT FOR THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF 

 KNOWLEDGE AMONG MEN." 



There is no reason known why he should have selected the 

 United States as the seat of his foundation, though it is certain 



Fig. 2.— Chief Justice Fuller, Chancellor of the Smith 



Brougham forcibly recommended this idea to the wealthy men 

 of England, pointing out that by the promotion of such ends, a 

 man, however averse to the turmoil of public affairs, might enjoy 

 the noblest gratification of which the most aspiring nature is 

 susceptible, and influence by his single exertions the fortunes 

 of a whole generation. 



Very closely do these thoughts correspond to those expressed 

 by Smithson in various passages in his note-books, and especially 

 with that which is used for a motto upon the publications of the 

 Institution : — 



" Every man is a valuable member of society, who by his 

 observations, researches, and experiments, procures knowledge for 

 men." 



Another sentence of his is still more pregnant with meaning. 

 It is this :— 



' ' It is in his knowledge that man has found his greatness 

 and his happiness, the high superiority which he holds over the 

 other animals who inherit the earth with him, and consequently, 

 no ignorance is probably without loss to him, no error without 

 evil. " 



Fig. 3. 



-Joseph Henry, First Secretary of the Smithsonian I nstitution, 

 1846-78. 



that he was in full sympathy with republican governments and 

 the liberty of the people. His library contained only two books 

 relating to America. Rhees quotes from one of these, ' ' Travels 

 Through North America," by Isaac Weld, secretary of the 

 Royal Society, a paragraph concerning Washington, then a 

 small town of 5000 inhabitants, in which it is predicted that 

 " the Federal city, as soon as navigation is perfected, will 

 increase most rapidly, and that at a future day, if the affairs of 

 the United States go on as prosperously as they have done, it 

 will become the grand emporium of the West, and rival in 

 magnitude and splendour the cities of the whole world." 



It is probable that he knew Joel Barlow in Paris, and was 

 familiar with his plan for a realisation of Washington's project 

 for a great national institution of learning in the Federal city. 



Inspired by a belief in the future greatness of the new nation, 

 realising that while the needs of England were well met by 

 existing organisations such as would not be likely to spring up 

 for many years in a new, poor, and growing country, Smithson 

 founded in the new f-ngland an institution of learning, the 

 civilising power of which has been of incalculable value. Who 



NO. 1368, VOL. 53] 



