Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-12-22
1BCTT THE "SYTTfTSONIIN.
Its History and Work.

TIoNs-IMPERATIVE NEED FOR ANOTHER
BUILDING.
The stately and picturesque structure of red
freestOne Familiarity called The Smithsonian
is, in its most important uses, practically un-
known To the great ma iority Of American cit-
Gems; and many a Washingtonian, if exam
ined on the subject, would, il is feared develop
an astonishing ignorance. Perhaps to most
persons the name suggests only mineral Spec-
mems. bugs tranSfixed by pins. stuffed birds
and animals. and the other curiosities that the
museum contains Now, il any of the readers
of The STAR are i'll So benghted a condition.
this paper shall become To them. on this sub
jet, what the Smithsonian Institution is
designed partially to beam establishment
for the diffusion Of knowledge among men,
Almost every one knows that the building
owes its existence To an EngliShman named
Smithson, but only few, perhaps are az
qGainted with the curious and interesting par
ticulars of its origin and history. One day in
the year 1879 an Engl>lman OF shy and re-
tired habits, an eminent physicist fellow of
the royal society who describes himself in
Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth.
heireSs of the HungerfOrds of Audley,
and niece of Charles the Proud, Duke of SOM
erset,'' died at Genoa. On examination it was
found that he had left his property to his
nephew Henry James HnngeTfOrd during the
latter'S lifetime and To his children after him;
IN case the nephew ucu cnliule>S the prop
erty was wlled to the United States 10 found
at Washington IAN establishment for the in
crease and diffusion of knowledge among
men, The first extraordinary thing about
the matter is that foreigner and an ERgtisi,-
mon who was II years old at the time OF the
Declaration of Independence. who was alive
during the war of ISL. who had never set foot
in America and who had no friends here,
should will his property under any contin-
gency Ia the United States. The nephew
aforementioned was not an ordinary man.
He refused to send SON or daughter into the
world tn be- weighed down with the care of
half a million dollars, SO he died in 1885. un-
married and without issue This is the second
extraordinary feature OF the ease;
The Congress OF the United States after
some discussion reluctantly concluded TO re-
ceive the bequest. Richard Rush was sent to
England as the l. 5. agent, and it was owing
To his perseverance and ability that the prop
erty was finally secured. This brings us 10 the
third extraordinary circumstance, which is.
that the amount of the bequeSt was ever
wreSted from the clutches OF the English Court
of Chancery, into which il had fallen. Nearly
two years Of litigation were required to bring
this so-called "amicable suit to decision. II
the suit had been 'quarreisome' probably IL
would be going on still, or the property would
have been eaten up in lawyers fees. Judging
from the bill which his solicitors presented 10
Mr.. Rush. (Which fills nearly p octave pages
in the House report the latter alternative is
the most likely: and the case Of Jarndyce w.
Jarndyce would have been repeated with The
United States as one OF the parties to the
suit.
CLAIMANTS TURN Up.
1t is mentioned as curious Incident, that
just after the decision was given III favor III
the United States TWO claimants t0 the prop
erty having no connection with each other.
made their appearance. III they had come
few days sooner, chancery would probably in
the end have appropriated the last dollar of
the spells, and the smithsonian would never
have been erected. But Richard Rush got off
safely with his gold packed iii eleven boxes,
and brought IL in triumph To this country.
lrrGt l1...rtt inn til tat TattI
that it had been presented with an elephant
and was in quandary As to what to do with
Its new acquisition. While its disposition was
under discussion, the government loaned
almost all of the money to the state of Arkan
sas; the entire amount was sguandered by the
state authorities. the state bonds We're repu-
dated ana became worthless. and the whole
loan was lost. In Congress there were two
conflicting opinions as to the nature of the
institution intended by Smithson in his be
queSt-the one cOntending that "a school, col
lege or university was designed: the other
opposing this theory on the ground That The
education of children and youth has for its
object not the increase and diffusion of knOwl-
edge among n,en, but the endowment of chill
dien and youth with useful knowledge already
acquired.
AN ADAMS OPINION
John Quincy Adams held to the latter view,
| and advised that the interest of the first few
years he employed in the erection Of an astrO-
| nOmical observatory. His reports to the House
| on the subject are carefully and deliberately
prepared. and in places wax eloquent. Refer
| ring to the fact that the brother of SmithSon
was Lord Percy, Of Lexington fame, he says
Renowned as is the name of Percy in the
| historical annals of England; resOunding as it
| does from the summit of the CheyiOt hills, to
| Chase, with the classical commentary of Addi-
| son: :; dOubly immOrtaliZed as it is in
the deafness dramas of Shakespeare: =;
| let the trust of James SmithSOn to the United
| States of America be faithfully executed by
| their representatives i'm Congress. . :, and
| wreath Of more unfading yerdure shall en-
| Irvine itself i'm the lapse of future ages around
the name Of Smithson ;than the united hands
| of tradition history aid poetry have braided
| around the name of Percy through the long
| perspective in ages past of a thousand years"
! among men present neither the idea OF knoWl
| edge already acquired to he taught. nor of
childhood or youth To be Instructed; but of
new discovery-Of progress in the march of the
| human miHd-Of accession to the moral, intel
| lectual and physical powers of the human
race-of dissemination throughout the civil
lied globe" This is the principle which has
| finally prevailed, and which is the foundation
on which all the Institutions present opera
tions are based; In 1916 the establishment
was constituted by act of Congress: The cor
ner stone of the building was laid in 1S47 and
the structure was completed in 1856. The
growth and extension OF the labOrs OF the lns,i-
folding and expanding of the science of the
nation. Congress. at the time of the OrganiZa-
tlon OF the establishment, determined that the
incOmefrOm the Smithsonian fund should be de-
voted principally 10 the formation of a library.
museum and a gallery of art: In accordance
with this determination valuable library of
5000 volumes has been collected which is now
deposited i'm the Library of Congress; the Ma
tiOnal Museum has been increased by many
rare specimens; and gallery of art was
formed, some of the paintings and engrav-
ings i'm which were burned i'm the fire of 1861
and the rest have been placed i'm the COrcOran
Art Gallery. 1t has also sent to the Depart
ment of Agriculture many thousand plants
and to the Army Medical Museum all spec-
mems relating to medicine and anatomy. But
it may be surprising to those who are accus-
toned to consider the Institution "a venerable
fossil to learn that it takes especial pride in
what are
CALLED ACTIVE OPERATIONS"
and these are thought to carry out most fully
the intentions of Smithson i'm making the be
quest. Men of erudition are aided i'm Scientific
research. and their discoveries, il of value
are published and diffused throughout the
world. Scientific expeditions are often fur
niShed with instruments and the results of
their labors published. In ethnOlogy and as
tTOnOmy and meteOrOlogy, i'm mineralOgy
/ geology, and the archaeology of this continent
immense service has been rendered to the
world. 1t has published Il Smithsonian con
tributiOns to knowledge, every one of which
adds something new and positive to the sum
OF human knowledge, IL volumes of miscela-