40 BE VIEWS — BEPORT OE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



Hugh Sinithson, from whom the institution derives its name, was 

 a relative of the Duke of Northumberland. He was much devoted 

 to physical science, and at Oxford, where he graduated, enjoyed the 

 reputation of being the best chemist in the university. He was a 

 cosmopolitan in his views, and used to express himself to the effect 

 that the man of science belongs exclusively to no country ; that the 

 world is his country and all men are his countrymen. It was, it is 

 believed, at one time his intention to leave his property to the Royal 

 Society of London, for the promotion of science, but in consequence 

 of a misunderstanding with the council of tbe society, he changed 

 his mind and left it to his nephew, and, in case of the death of that 

 relation without issue, to the United States of America, to found 

 the institution which now bears his name. 



In 1829 Smithson died, leaving his fortune, £120,000, in case of 

 the death of his nephew, to whom it was first bequeathed, to found 

 at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an 

 establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men. 



In 1838, the nephew having died, the money was paid over by the 

 English Court of Chancery to the Agent appointed by the Govern- 

 ment of the United States ; and eight years afterwards, in 1846, an 

 Act was passed through Congress for the establishment of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



By this Act the immediate government of the institution devolved 

 upon the Board of Regents consisting of the following 15 members : 



The Vice-President of the United States, the Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, the Mayor of the City of "Washington, ex-officio ; 

 three members of the Senate, to be appointed by the President 

 thereof; three members of the House of Representatives, appointed 

 by the Speaker ; six persons chosen from the citizens at large by 

 joint resolution of the Senate and House, two of whom shall be 

 members of the National Institute, and the other four inhabitants 

 of states, and no two from the same state. 



"With a view of carrying the wishes of the testator into effect the 

 Secretary, Professor Henry, was empowered to draw up a programme 

 for the organization of the institution, which was presented in his 

 first Annual Report to the Board of Regents and adopted by them 

 in 1847. 



As this programme is presented in the report before us we are 

 •enabled to give some extracts which serve to exhibit the principles 



