CHAPTER V. THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AT WASHINGTON. I know no Wisdom", but that which reveals Man to himself, and which teaches him to regard all social institutions, and his whole life, as the means of unfolding and exalting the Spirit with him..... I call that mind "free" which escapes the bondage of matter, which, instead of stopping at the Material Universe, and making it a prison-wall, passes beyond it to its Author, and finds, in the radiant signatures which it every where bears of the Infinite Spirit, helps to its own Spiritual Enlargement. CHANNING, Spiritual Freedom. The Smithsonian Institution was founded by an Act of the Congress of the United States of America, on the 10th August, 1846, in pursuance of the bequest by James Smithson of all his property to the United States, in order to the establishment of an institution "at Washington, under the Name of the 'Smithsonian Institution'.... for the increase and diffusion of Knowledge among Men." James Lewis Macie (afterwards called Smithson) appears to have been a natural son of Sir Hugh Smithson, BOOK IV. Chapter V. Smithsonian Institution at Washington. BOOK IV. Chapter V. Institution at Washington Bart., who was created Duke of Northumberland, in Smithsonian 1766 (and shortly afterwards "Vice-Admiral of all America"), after his marriage with the heiress of the Percies. Mrs. Elizabeth Macie, his mother, is said to have been of the Wiltshire family of Hungerford. Little is known of his life, save that he was educated at Oxford, that he cultivated a knowledge of chemistry, was well acquainted with Cavendish, and contributed to the Philosophical Transactions several analytical papers on chemical subjects; that he was proud of his descent, yet keenly sensitive on the score of the "bar sinister" in his escutcheon; ambitious of leaving a name that, to use his own words, "would live in the memory of men when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percies are extinct or forgotten," yet willing to make his purpose wholly contingent on the birth of no child or children to a nephew who survived him; that he passed most of his life on the Continent, and died at Genoa in 1829, unmarried, leaving a fortune of about £120,000 sterling. Mr. Smithson is said to have been a man of reserved manners and sensitive feelings; but an anecdote (almost the only one which has survived of him) shows that he must have possessed considerable coolness and strength of nerve. "Happening to observe a tear gliding down a lady's cheek,.... he submitted it to reagents, and detected what was then called microcosmic salt, with muriate of soda, and, I think" (Mr. Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal Society, is the narrator) "three or four more saline substances held in solution." BOOK IV. Chapter V. Smithsonian Institution at The will of the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, bears date 23rd Oct., 1826. In it he describes himself as "James Smithson, son of Hugh, first Duke of North- Washington. umberland, and Elizabeth, heiress of the Hungerfords, of Audley, and niece of Charles the Proud, Duke of Somerset." After bequeathing an annuity to a former servant, he leaves the whole of the income arising from all his property, of what nature soever, "to Henry James Hungerford, my nephew, heretofore called Henry James Dickinson, son of my late brother, LieutenantColonel Henry Louis Dickinson," for his life, and then directs that "should, the said Henry James Hungerford have a child or children, legitimate or illegitimate," such child or children should inherit the whole of his property of every kind absolutely and for ever. Failing such issue (as proved to be the case), he bequeathed the whole-subject to the annuity already mentioned— "to the United States of America," in the few words cited above, and without further detail of his intentions. propriation for Library. The Act of Congress, which organized the Institution, Congress Apcreated a Board of Regents, directed the construction of the Smithsonian a suitable building, empowered the Regents to appoint officers, which "said officers shall be removable by the Board of Regents, whenever in their judgment the interests of the Institution require any of the said officers to be changed;" and enacted that "the said Regents shall make, from the interest of said fund, an appropriation, not exceeding an average of 25,000 dollars annually, for the gradual formation of a Library composed of valuable works pertaining to all departments of human BOOK IV. Chapter V. Smithsonian Institution at knowledge." Of all remaining monies, "not herein appropriated, or not required for the purposes herein providWashington. ed," ed," the Regents are directed to make such disposal as they may deem best suited for the promotion of the te sttor's purpose; and by the 10th section it is enacted that one copy of all books, maps, and prints, for which copyright shall be secured, shall be delivered to the Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, and one other copy to the Librarian of the Congress Library, for the use of such Libraries respectively." The amount received by Mr. Rush on behalf of the United States was £103,013 sterling. "He brought it over in sovereigns, and deposited it in the Mint of the United States, where it was re-coined into American eagles,thus becoming a part of the currency of the country. This money was afterwards (and unwisely) lent to some of the new States, and a portion of it was lost; but it did not belong to the United States-it was the property of the Smithsonian Institution and the government was bound in honour to restore it. Congress has acknowledged this by declaring that the money is still in the Treasury of the Union, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent., and annually producing a revenue of about 30,000 dollars (£6000 sterling)." The plan which was adopted for carrying out the founder's object, proposed, 1 Copy of the Will, Act, etc., in Appendix to Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Regents, etc. (1854), 107-123. 2 Ibid. (Programme of Organization), 128–133. 1 Henry (Extract from an Address), 121. 1. To stimulate men of talent to make original researches, by offering suitable rewards for memoirs containing new truths; 2. To appropriate annually a portion of the income for particular researches; 3. To publish a series of periodical reports on the progress of the different branches of knowledge: 4. To publish occasionally separate treatises on subjects of general interest "The Act of Congress," continues the Programme of Organization, "establishing the Institution contemplated the formation of a Library and Museum; and the Board of Regents, including these objects in the plan,... resolved to divide the income into equal parts. One part to be appropriated to ..... publications and researches; the other..... to the formation of a library and a collection of objects of nature and of art. These two plans are not incompatible with each other." On this double basis the expenditure of the Smithsonian bequest was for a short time regulated, being modified, however, by the necessity of providing, first of all, an adequate building for the transaction of business and preservation of the Collections. To this last-named purpose the erection of a building-no part of the capital fund was appropriated. Interest had accrued to no less an amount than £48,400 sterling. This sum was devoted to the structure; but the Trustees determined to keep it invested until a further sum of £30,000 had accrued, in the expectation that the two sums would both cover the entire expenditure on this head, and leave a sufficient balance to be invested as a per BOOK IV. Chapter V. Smithsonian Institution at Washington. |