SENATE
j Document
1   No. 717
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
Mr. Long presented the following
ARTICLE ENTITLED "THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION," BY
CHARGES MINOR BLACKFORD, JR., M. D., REPRINTED FROM
THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW FOR JANUARY, 1909, WITH
REVISIONS  BY  THE   AUTHOR.
February 15, 1909.—Ordered to be printed.
THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.
lated in the city of Washington is an organization which is
\ique among learned establishments in aims, objects, methods, and
Igin. It is controlled by the Congress of the United States, but it
is governed by rules of its own making. It is a society with no
member; and but a few associates; a university without a faculty,
that has no matriculates and grants no degrees; a great publishing
house that pays nothing for manuscripts, holds no copyrights, and
gives away the greater part of its output. This is the Smithsonian
Institution, an establishment little understood by the people, although
tö it is due, in large measure, the high rank held by American scientific
workers throughout the world.
The origin of this remarkable organization is not its least peculiar
feature, for it was established in accordance with the will of James
Smithson, an English chemist, who left a legacy to the United States
for the purpose. Legacies to governments are rare, and legacies by
a subject of one country to the government of another are so uncom-
mon as to arouse interest in the personality of the donor and the
motives that prompted such an act.
James Smithson was a natural son of Sir Hugh Smithson, who was
created Duke of Northumberland in 1766 and assumed the name of
Percy. The son, who was to make the former name illustrious, was
born in France in 1765, and bore his maternal name of Macie through-
out his early years, probably assuming that of his father on coming
of age. He was one of the memorable group of investigators who
freed chemistry and physics from the superstitions and follies of
alchemy and magic that hung about them for so long. Cavendish
was one of his intimate friends, as was Arago at a later period; but
¿TGI
2                               THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION.
his correspondence embraced almost every man of seien.
in Europe.    His work in chemistry and mineralogy attra..
tion, and he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, to whose ' ^
sophical Transactions"  he contributed several papers.    He was  a
voluminous writer, and many of his unpublished papers came ,.nto
the possession of the Smithsonian Institution with his other personal
belongings, but, unfortunately, were almost entirely destroyed in a
disastrous fire in 1865.
Burdened by ill health, he was forced to seek a more genial clime
than that of England, and his later years were passed on the Riviera.
In. 1826 he made his will, by which his entire estate, with the exception
of a few private legacies and certain specified contingencies, was
bequeathed to the United States "to found at Washington, under the
name of The Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the
increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." His reason for
selecting the United States for this purpose is not known. The
Federal Republic was still an experiment, and few European states-
men believed it to be permanent. By his gift, Smithson showed his
faith in its stability; but it is none the less strange that his bounty
should have been so bestowed, as he had no ties in America and had-
never even paid it a visit. It is said that the advice in Washington
farewell address that the people of the United States should promote
"as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general
diffusion of knowledge," accorded with his own opinion of the duty
of a nation.
The will became operative at the death of its maker, which occurr»
at Genoa in 1829, and the income of the estate went to Smithso^
nephew, Henry James Hungerford, until'the death of the latter,
June 5, 1835. The bequest of the property to the United States
thereupon became operative, and in September, 1835, the State
Department received notification thereof. On the 17th of December
President Jackson informed Congress of the bequest, and on July 1,
1836, the gift was accepted and the President empowered to appoint
an agent to collect the money. Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, was
intrusted with this duty, and in November he brought the necessarily
formal suit in the English court of chancery, where the claim
remained for two years. Upon the final interpretation of the will,
Rush returned to America, bringing the fund with him. In his
report he states that he brought it in 105 bags, each containing 1,000
sovereigns, except one that held 960 sovereigns; and, with laughable
accuracy, he adds; " eight shillings and sevenpence wrapped in paper,"
all of which was deposited in the mint in Philadelphia on September
1, 1838.
The sum so deposited was equivalent to $508,318.46, and at once
suggestions were offered for its expenditure in accordance with the
terms of the will. As these were somewhat indefinite, it is not
surprising that the proposals were varied in character. A national
library, a national university, a national gallery of art, and an
astronomical observatory were among the suggestions, but all these
were rejected; and in 1846, after eight years of exhaustive delibera-
tion, the present establishment, fulfilling in a measure the functions
of all the above suggestions was brought into being by an act of
Congress that rendered the income of the fund available under the
management   of   a   board   of   regents.    The   first   meeting  of  the
THE  SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.                               3
R-¦¦'¦-regents for the purpose of organization was held on September 7,
1846, when Prof. Joseph Henry was elected secretary of the nsti-
tution.
As stated in his will, the founder wished his bequest to be used
to increase and diffuse knowledge among men. It therefore follows
that the institution is international, and that its benefits are not to
be restricted to the United States, our Government being merely a
trustee for the human race. As the Government can not administer
this trust directly, there was constituted by Congress an establish-
ment consisting of the President, the Vice-President, the Chief
Justice, and the heads of the executive departments of the United
States. These are known as ''members of the institution." For
conducting the business of the institution a board of directors was
created, called a board of regents, to which the management of the
income of the fund was intrusted and from which an annual report
is required. The board of regents virtually have full powers,
subject to the general laws of the land. As now constituted, the
board consists of ''the Vice-President, the Chief Justice of the United
States, three members of the Senate and three Members of the House
of Representatives, together with six other persons other than
Members of Congress, two of whom shall be resident in the city of
Washington, and the other four shall be inhabitants of some State,
but no two from the same State." This board of regents elects the
secretary, to whom is given full administrative power to carry out
the aims of the institution.
As said above, these aims are to increase and diffuse knowledge;
and, as a private establishment with means of its own, the institution
is admirably fitted for carrying them out. The relation of govern-
ments to abstract research is a question on which political econo-
mists are not agreed. The safest rule is to extend public aid after
some definite result has been accomplished, as is done through
patents and copyrights, for discretionary power in such a master
would open the way to gross abuses. On the other, hand a body like
the Smithsonian Institution can discriminate, and is not so liable,
therefore, to be despoiled, while genuine students are sure of a sym-
pathetic hearing and of assistance of the sort they most need.
Professor Henry did much to advance the great invention of the
middle of last century, the electric telegraph. As far back as 1827
he had discovered that, if a weak electrical current were passed
through a silk-covered wire wrapped repeatedly about an iron core,
a far greater lifting power would be given the resulting magnet than
was_ possessed by any electro-magnet previously known. In 1828 he
exhibited before the Albany Institute a small magnet similar to those
in use at the present day, and in 1831 he explained the difference
between a "quantity" magnet, excited by a "quantity" battery of a
single pair of elements, and a "quality" magnet excited by a number
of cells, pointing out at the same time that the latter was the form
to be used for telegraphy. Peter Barlow had claimed that a gal-
vanic current became so weakened after traversing 200 feet of wire
that it would not produce magnetism, and that, therefore, an electric
telegraph could not be operated over a single mile of wire. Henry
claimed that Barlow's magnet was improperly arranged, and to demon-
strate this he suspended 1,060 feet of common bell wire about the
walls of the academy at Albany, with a battery at one end and one of
4                               THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.
his magnetic coils at the other. The armature was arranged to
strike a bell and make a signal. The demonstration was complete,
and to him is due the first electro-magnetic telegraph ever constructed.
Such was the man who for more than thirty years directed the
course of the institution. In that time he fixed the lines on which it
should move, and defined its part in the scientific development of the
world. His successors, Baird, Langley, and Walcott, have pursued
the policy he laid down, and it is due to this policy that the institution
has won and holds the friendship of all other learned bodies, with
which it is ever an earnest cooperator, without jealousj^ or rivalry.
Every branch of human thought has felt the influence of the workers
connected with it, and many of those who have made and are making
America stand abreast of the world in science have been spurred to
activity by the genial enthusiasm and kindly sympathy of those
within its walls.
The Louisiana purchase gave to the United States a vast tract of
unknown territory, to which the results of the Mexican war made
large additions. In 1846, the greater part of the region west of the
one hundredth meridian was unexplored, but the discovery of gold
caused such a rush of settlers across the continent that its survey
became a necessity. Between 1349 and 1854, the War Department
sent several parties through these unknown regions to find practi-
cable routes for railways. The opportunity so presented was grasped
by the Smithsonian Institution, and botanists, geologists, zoologists
and ethnologists accompanied the expeditions. The results of these
explorations were published in the magnificent series of Pacific
Railway Reports; and, although these were issued under the
auspices of the War Department, they may be ascribed to the Smith-
sonian Institution without impropriety. The surveys under Prof.
F. V. Hayden and Maj. J. W. Powell were aided by money from its
funds, as well as by representations to Congress that secured the
appropriations needed for their prosecution.
The wisdom of these acts has been proven by the results that have
followed. The surveys dispelled the notion of uthe Great Ameri-
can Desert," and showed a fertile country where a sandy waste had
been thought to exist. They proved that the Rocky Mountains
were neither impassable nor inaccessible, but were easily reached,
and were filled with minerals of inestimable value. To the artist
they revealed scenery that Europe can not rival; to geologists they
showed wonders whose like had never been seen, canyons with walls
more than a mile in vertical height, geysers, and marvelous natural
sculptures that are unequaled in the world, and beds of former inland
seas that hold, as fossils, remains from which the history of life on
earth has been deciphered. Ethnologists sent by the Smithsonian
Institution have found that this continent was once inhabited by
races of men who raised massive mounds in fantastic shapes in
which are buried memorials of long-forgotten peoples. They dis-
covered and described the strange homes built by the "cliff-dwellers"
in rifts of the solid rock. They observed and recorded the customs,
manners, rites and religion of the aborigines, and collected their
myths, traditions, and superstitions before contact with alien beliefs
corrupted their integrity. They studied the remains of great struc-
tures built by the Aztecs and other ancient peoples in Mexico, Cen-
tral and South America.    By these researches, directly under the
THE  SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.                               0
Institution and through its Bureau of American Ethnology, a new
field was opened to science and civilizations centuries old were
revealed and compared with those already known.
The practical value of these surveys was so apparent that many
far-seeing men urged their extension over the whole country. It
is evident that work of this description can be done only under
national direction, for the methods must be uniform and the
results, to be of value, must be reported in the same terms. _ Beds
of ore and other geological formations pay little attention to
political boundaries, and only Federal officials can carry investi-
gations to conclusions without hindrances of this sort. The geo-
logical division of the Institution cooperated fully with the sur-
veys of the War Department, until they were suspended by the
outbreak of the civil war. After the restoration of peace, the
enormous development of the West brought demands on the
Smithsonian Institution that its scanty means were unable to meet.
As its reports had been the chief means by which the natural
wealth of the Western country had become known, it was called on
to make the knowledge more perfect, and, however willing, it could
not respond to the demand. At last, Congress came to the rescue,
and in 1879 the Geological Survey was established to make a sys-
tematic study of the whole country. The magnificent series of re-
ports, bulletins, charts and monographs that have issued from
this bureau may, without injustice, be regarded as fundamentally
due to the Smithson foundation.
While this great work was in progress, Professor Henry was
organizing a force to make systematic observations of meteoro-
logical conditions. Before the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson,
afterwards President of the United States, and James Madison,
then President of William and Mary College and later Bishop of
Virginia, maintained a correspondence in which each informed
the other continuously of the atmospheric conditions that pre-
vailed in his locality. Jefferson was at his home near Charlottes-
ville, amid the foot hills of the Blue Ridge, and Madison was in
Williamsburg, in the tide-water section of the Colony, some 120
miles distant. They arranged for simultaneous observations of
thermometric and barometric readings, the direction of winds
and such other phenomena as they could record with accuracy
with the limited apparatus at command. This was the first ex-
periment of this character, and the original correspondence and
records, now on file in the archives of the State Department,
show that the idea of an organized weather bureau originated with
these cultured men long before it was developed in France.
In .1849 Henry established the Smithsonian meteorological sys-
tem. The work of Maury on the winds and currents of the sea had
shown that such investigations are practicable, and the writings of
Espy and others created a demand for similar investigations on land.
Henry enlisted the aid of volunteer observers throughout the coun-
try who were willing to serve without pay, and a vast store of mate-
rial was accumulated. The Medical Department of the army coop-
erated with the civil volunteers, and the institution supplied instru-
ments so that the observations might conform to a uniform standard.
A result of this undertaking was that a great number of people in
the country became interested in meteorology, and helped to over-
6                               THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.
come the opposition that superstition and ignorance offered to its
progress. The telegraph companies gave generous assistance, and
the practical value of the storm warnings soon silenced the most
bigoted opponent of the system.
The quantity of data quickly became immense, and, as soon as a
sufficient amount was on hand, the work of reducing it to scientific
form was begun. The discussion of temperature and rainfall was
assigned to Charles A. Schott, now celebrated for his researches into
terrestrial magnetism, who arranged the hourly, bihourly, and semi-
hourly observations of temperature in such a manner that from them
tables might be deduced for the correction of daily variations in
temperature. He also compiled an elaborate set of tables showing
the rainfall in different parts of the country as far back as trustworthy
information could be had. Prof. J. H. Coffin, of Lafayette College,
undertook the work on the winds, and in 1853 his book, The Winds
of the Northern Hemisphere, was published. After his death his
Winds of the Globe appeared, edited by his son and by the Russian
meteorologist, Woeikon. To meet the expense of these works and
to pay for labor other than that of Professor Coffin, the Smithsonian
Institution made appropriations from its own income, and thus estab-
lished the infant science on a sure footing. It began the publication
of daily weather maps in 1856, two years before Leverrier began the
publication of the Bulletin International, and seven years before the
weather map was added to it—a fact overlooked by so compendious a
work as the Encyclopedia Britannica. The cost of this service
steadily increased as it enlarged its scope, and it became too great a
burden for the limited means of the institution to bear; and in 1869
Congress established the Weather Bureau, placing it under the charge
of the War Department. The practical utility of this bureau is so
thoroughly recognized that it need not be more than mentioned; but
not the least of its services has been freeing the minds of the people
from the superstitions and follies that invested the whole subject
for so many ages, and showing that the same natural law that pre-
vails in the rest of the universe controls the winds and rains as well.
Professor Henry instituted in this country the plan of simultaneous
observations devised by Leverrier in France, and all of the observers
noted the readings of the thermometer, barometer, and other instru-
ments at certain fixed hours.
In 1845 Sir John Franklin made an attempt to discover the famous
"northwest passage" from the Atlantic to the Pacific along the
northern coast of America. The expedition was well equipped, and
was provided with the two ships Erebus and Terror, but its precise
fate is one of the mysteries of the sea. In 1848 the British public
began to feel uneasiness about the expedition, and search parties
were organized to try to find out what had become of it. The same
generous sentiment moved the American people, and Mr. Henry
Grinnell, of New York, equipped the Advance and the Fescue to aid
in the search. These vessels sailed in 1850, commanded by Lieu-
tenants De Haven and Griffith, and accompanied by Dr. Eiisha Kane,
one of the most celebrated of arctic adventurers. Professor Henry
saw in this expedition an opportunity for research into the climatic
conditions of the polar regions. The liberality of Grinnell had been
reenforced by a grant from Congress, and this enabled the Navy
Department to assume management and to detail its officers from the
THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.                               7
regular service. The Smithsonian Institution supplied these officers
with the necessary instruments, and to their reports is due the first
accurate knowledge that the world gained of the meteorological con-
ditions of the Arctic Zone. The subsequent voj-ages of Kane,
Hayes, and others; the disastrous expeditions in the Polaris and the
Jeannette, and the later travels of more fortunate explorers, have
furnished data from which those who penetrate these forbidding
realms may learn in advance the obstacles and perils with which the
weather may threaten them. Those of us whose ambitions lie in
other lines may learn the causes of winter storms, and, when the
causes have been fully shown, may find some preventives.
As the work of the institution became steadily wider in scope and
greater in volume, the labor entailed on its secretary increased until
it grew too vast for his performance. In 1850 Professor Henry asked
the regents for authority to appoint an assistant who should take
charge of the department of natural history and of the infant National
Museum. The request was granted, and Prof. Spencer Fullerton
Baird, then of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., was offered the post.
Two years previously he had applied for and had been granted the
first appropriation made by the institution for original research, and
the sum so obtained had been applied to the exploration of bone caves
in southeastern Pennsylvania. This incident seems to have been the
thing that attracted Henry's attention to the young scientist and,
as further acquaintance ripened the respect of each for the other, the
offer and its acceptance were pleasing to both. To Baird fell a large
part of the responsibility of developing the various departments, and
two great agencies have sprung from his labors. Although but one
of these is still under the wing of the parent establishment, both take
pride in their great founder, and the one that is now independent
delights to use its freedom on behalf ( f its noble parent. These two
agencies are the Smithsonian international exchange service and the
United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries.
The Smithsonian international exchange service originated from
a suggestion made by Henry and was adopted at a meeting of the
regents on December 8, 1847. It was merely a plan for the enrich-
ment of the library by exchanging the publications of the institution
for those of scientific bodies abroad, thereby performing the duty of
diffusing knowledge among mankind. The labor of organizing and
starting the system into operation was done by Henry himself, but
when Baird became assistant secretary he assumed charge of the ex-
changes and brought it to its present state of efficiency. By means
of the foreign correspondents of the institution, packages intended for
exchange abroad were delivered to their consignees and the articles
received in return were brought back and delivered without cost and
without annoyance. At first this service was solely in the interests
of the institution, but Baird soon extended it to societies, colleges,
and individuals, and set about a task that would increase its value
immeasurably. When the system was inaugurated the annoying
delays and the expenses occasioned by the requirements of the cus-
tom-houses added so greatly to the burden as to make it almost more
than the institution could bear, and the new assistant secretary de-
termined to remedy the evil. He interested intelligent men through-
out the country, and then made persistent and concerted efforts that
induced Congress to adopt the enlightened policy of admitting through
8                               THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION".
the custom-houses, free of all duties, scientific publications or other
articles addressed to the Smithsonian Institution, whether for its
own use or for that of its correspondents. Stimulated by this success,
foreign societies urged similar action on their respective governments
with such effect that Professor Henry was able to say, in his report
for 1854: "There is therefore no port to which the Smithsonian par-
cels are shipped where duties are charged on them, a certified invoice
of contents by the secretary being sufficient to pass them through the
custom-house free of duty. On the other hand, all packages addressed
to the institution arriving at the ports of the United States are ad-
mitted, without detention, duty free. This system of exchange is,
therefore, the most extensive and efficient which has ever been estab-
lished in any country."
The utility of the exchange service was soon recognized, and those
benefited by it availed themselves of its advantages to an extent
beyond the available means of the institution. A circular was sent
to the principal transportation companies in 1855, explaining the ob-
jects of the service, and asking aid in the form of a reduction of rates.
The replies show the high appreciation of science in America, for, while
some offered a merely nominal rate, the greater number cheerfully
agreed to transport the packages free of all charges whatever. This
generosity enabled the service to be maintained for the time being,
but its expense was still so great that curtailment seemed inevitable
in this or some other part of the work that was being done so unob-
trusively. The Department of State tried to persuade Congress to
assume part of the burden, but it was not until 1881 that the sum of
$3,000 was granted for this purpose. The amount was small, but it
was a great help and gave promise of annual appropriations in the
future.
The publications of our Government and of those of foreign coun-
tries are often of the utmost importance to students, but it is difficult
for libraries or individuals to obtain those issued abroad. In 1867
Congress ordered that 50 copies of all governmental publications
should be put at the disposal of the Joint Committee on Library for
exchange through the Smithsonian exchange service for such works
published abroad, especially by foreign governments, as the committee
may consider a fair equivalent, and that such works received in
exchange shall be deposited in the Library of Congress. It is apparent
that this really threw the cost of making such additions to the
Library of Congress on the institution, and in 1876 this expense
reached $10,000—nearly one-fourth of its total income. It was on
this account that Congress was moved to aid in the work, but since
the time that these appropriations have been available the institu-
tion has been compelled to advance from its slender funds amounts
that aggregate $45,175.82 for the transportation of government
documents, not one cent of which has been refunded.
The figures for the fiscal year 1907-8 give an idea of the enormous
mass of matter handled by this bureau. From the published report
it appears that 203,098 packages, aggregating 435,285 pounds, were
handled during the year. There were shipped to foreign countries
in exchange on behalf of the various departments of the United
States Government 102,694 packages, while domestic societies and
individuals received 27,671 parcels, all of which were delivered at
their destinations free of all costs to  their recipients.    The total
THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION.
number of correspondents in 90 countries at the close of the year
was 60,123. The figures speak for themselves, and show the part
played by this wonderful organization in the " diffusion of knowledge
among men."                                                                 ¦         -
A full consideration of the work and usefulness of the United
States Commission of Fish and Fisheries would be out of place in
this paper, but no account of the Smithsonian Institution is complete
that does not contain a reference to its beginning. The depletion
of the fisheries of our coast and inland waters became so apparent
that Congress was moved to take action looking to their restoration.
In 1871 a bill was passed authorizing the President to appoint a
civil servant of the Government who had a practical and scientific
acquaintance with fish and fisheries to inquire into the decline, to
ascertain if it was real or apparent, and to suggest means for checking
it. No pay was to be given for this service, and, although not named
in the bill, there was but one man who could fulfill its requirements.
This was Professor Baird, and, after being duly appointed by Presi-
dent Grant, he assumed the duties of the office. The appointment
was a happy one in every respect, and in nothing was Baird's genius
for administration seen to better advantage. No such bureau existed
in the world; indeed, even so late as 1884, Mr. Huxley, writing of
the exhibit of the Fish Commission at the Great International Fish-
eries Exhibition in London, said that it is an establishment "whose
precise parallel it is impossible to find in Europe," but so broad and
true was the foundation on which Baird placed it that the enviable
position of practical and scientific efficiency that it now occupies
has been attained by following the precepts laid down for it by its
founder when such a bureau was an experiment. Although no ionger
officially associated with the Smithsonian Institution*, the two bodies
are united by the closest ties of friendship and are m hearty
cooperation.                                                                                   ,
Probably most of the visitors to Washington think of the Smith-
sonian Institution in connection with the National Museum, and
many of those who go to the museum think it identical with the
institution. The connection of the two is most intimate, but they
are distinct organizations, the National Museum being supportai by
the Government and its employees are salaried officials of the United
States, while the institution, as explained above, is a private estab-
lishment supported by its own means. Its relation to the museum
can best be understood in the light of the history of the latter
organization.                                         .
In 1840 there was a society organized in Washington under the
name of the "National Institution," a title afterwards altered to the
"National Institute." For four years the society_ was very
prosperous and possessed a numerous and influential member-
ship It D-athered the nucleus of a national museum which it
deposited in the Patent Office building, but its greatest service
was the cultivation of the idea that such an enterprise was worthy
the attention of the United States. The society tried to obtain
official recognition, but its efforts failing in 1846, it became inactive,
and finally passed out of existence in 1861. The Smithsonian Insti-
tution was organized during its term of life, and one of the bequests
to the new establishment influenced the fate of the museum. This
was a cabinet of minerals collected by Smithson, and as the mstitu-
10                            THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION.
tion had to care for it the governmental collections were also put
into its charge, when, in 1858, the "National Institute" surrendered
what was called the " National cabinet of curiosities." The deposits
in the Patent Office were removed to the Smithsonian building, and
the government collections have since been known under the name
of the National Museum. By the original act of foundation, in
1846, the Smithsonian Institution was made the lawful depository
of all the material collected by the different departments of the Gov-
ernment; but while liberal in assigning duties, Congress was not so
thoughtful in providing for the costs of caring for the collections. The
loving zeal of individuals supplied this lack in large measure, and the
work of assorting and arranging the accumulation of materials was
performed gratuitously by volunteers, some of whom were of world-
wide reputation in their several specialties. Duplicate sets of speci-
mens illustrating the different branches of science were prepared and
arranged in systematic order, and were either exchanged for those
lacking in the museum, or were given to colleges, local museums, and
individuals carrying on original investigations. The funds of the
institution were insufficient to pay for such work, and the public owes
a debt of gratitude to those who, like Cones, Cope, Kidgway, Gill,
and others, gave time and toil to performing a labor of love. By
1870 the proportion of the total income of the institution, amount-
ing to $45,489.38, that must be devoted to sustaining the National
Museum had become so great as to seriously cripple the institution
in carrying on its own functions. In 1872 $15,000 was appropriated
by Congress for this purpose, and repeated annually for several
years. The annual appropriation is now sufficient, with close econ-
omy, to meet the current expenses, but there are no funds with
, which to purchase accessions, and the growth of the collections
depends on the activity of other bureaus and the liberality of indi-
viduals. Despite this hindrance, the museum now contains about
three and a half million objects.
Under the direction of the board of regents there have also been
placed three government interests which, like the museum, were at
first supported by the funds of the institution. These were estab-
lished during the administration of the late Secretary Langley.
They are the National Zoological Park, created ufor the advance-
ment of science and the instruction and recreation of the people/'
situated on the outskirts of Washington, and containing some 1,400
specimens of animals from all parts of the world housed in surround-
ings as natural to them as possible; the Astrophysical Observatory,
devoted to the study of the sun's heat and its effect on the earth,
and similar problems; and the regional bureau for the United States
of the International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, which indexes
and catalogues the scientific publications of this country for the use
of those engaged in research and others. These interests are now
supported by annual congressional appropriations administered
by the secretary of the institution.
No sketch of the Smithsonian Institution should close without a
mention of its publications. There are many works whose publica-
tion is demanded by the growth of science, but for which the demand
would be so limited that no commercial publisher would be justified
in issuing them.    Such works are published by the institution, and
are either distributed gratuitously or are sold at nominal prices to
those who require them.
THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION.                             Il
The publications are in several forms. The annual report con-
tains a statement of the operations of the establishment for the year,
and an appendix in which are papers of a somewhat popular nature
that bear on almost every field of human thought. A similar report
is issued by the National Museum, in which until a few years ago
there was embodied a series of articles based on the collections and
of interest to others than professional scientists. The next series
is made up of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, a set
of works that has run into thirty-three volumes, in whose pages is
recorded the history of the human intellect for the past half-century.
Less dignified than the Contributions, but not less important, are the
proceedings of the National Museum, a periodical containing tech-
nical papers on various subjects and intended'to supply prompt pub-
lication to suitable essays, and the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col-
lections, whose nature is sufficiently indicated by the name. Finally
come the bulletins, monograghs on different subjects of so high a
character that several of them are recognized authorities of the
highest order in their respective lines. To these publications is due
the wide diffusion of scientific knowledge among the people of the
United States, for they go to all parts of the country and are the
only scientific papers that reach the masses of the people.
Such has been the result of a single benefaction of half a million of
dollars, and perhaps no such result has ever been accomplished by so
limited an endowment. Were the great sums given to swell the
almost infinite endowments of some of our universities diverted to
this unostentatious establishment, its power for good would be
immeasurably increased, but, as it is, the bounty of a stranger and an
alien has given the American people an agency for good whose influ-
ence is incalculable. It presents an opportunity to those who wish
to bestow money for some beneficent purpose such as is given by no
other on earth, and its scant means and petty endowment are a
reproach to our rich and generous nation.
O