6 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
the place should be scanty and feeble. It is only when we learn how he regarded 
the possibilities and demands of the place, and his own capacity and purpose to 
meet them, that we can explain the readiness with which he responded to this 
call. The secretary was to initiate and control the policy of a novel institution, 
with a handsome but not extravagant endowment given to the United States for 
the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. Loosely interpreted, the 
terms of the gift might admit any application of popular usefulness. But when 
read in the light of the known tastes of the giver and the previous bequest of the 
estate to a society which was severely scientific in its functions, and especially 
when interpreted by the eminent need and certain usefulness of a special appli- 
cation, it was clear to Professor Henry that it should be used exclusively in the in- 
terests of the increase and diffusion of scientific knowledge. He foresaw and 
foretold that his theory would at first encounter active dissent and opposition. 
He was equally confident that it would finally become popular and attractive. 
Before he entered upon his duties the institution had been partially committed to 
another policy. It was not until after eight years of discussion and reports in 
committees and in both houses of congress, in which some of the ablest and most 
brilliant members were conspicuous, that the policy of Professor Henry at last pre- 
vailed, and has ever since justified itself to the approval of the nation. It was 
not that Pi ofessor Henry despised literature that he did not favor the attempt to found 
a splendid library, for few. men were more sensitive to its charms or appreciative 
of its powers; much less that he did not understand the value of a museum to an 
ardent interest in which he was pledged by his fondness for natural history and 
his curious zeal in ethnology and archaeology, but because he saw a need and 
opportunity for an institution that should be limited to the increase and diffusion 
of scientific knowledge. Finis coronal opus. The experiment has justified the 
theory. Not only have the workings of the Smithsonian Institution vindicated 
the wisdom of his anticipations, but it is itself a monument to his strong convic- 
tions and his unyielding tenacity, tempered as these were by singular simplicity, 
patience, and unselfishness. Had it not been for these characteristics the Smith- 
sonian Institution as we know it would never have existed at all. Were it not 
for the modesty of the mah we would hear this statue speak as it surveys the 
scene of his life work, ^^ Si monumenlum queens, cinumspice.^' 
Then showing that the library, the museum, and the art collection had thrived 
better than if Professor Henry's policy had failed, the orator continued : 
"It would not have been surprising if his scientific ardor had thereby been 
cooled, his invention had been limited, and his many-sidedness had been cur- 
tailed. This does not seem to have been true. From the beginning to the end 
of these more than thirty years he was almost as inventive, ingenious, alert, and 
wide-minded as when he achieved the triumphs of his early manhood. Though 
many of his discoveries and inventions were in the line of his official responsibil- 
ties, they all bore the stamp of scientific genius. During all this period it should 
be remembered the sciences of nature were making a progress such as the world 
had never witnessed before— progress in every form, from the severest mathemat- 
