Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-11

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ago as 1850, made youthful America
an International patron of thought
and knowledge"
The Chief Justice recalled the excite
nent aroused in this country in 1896
when James Smithson. an English
scientist, made his unprecedented be
quest Of half a million dollars for the
founding, of the institution. He
pointed out that from its beginning
the Smithsonian aroused a sense of
responsibility in the country's leading
men. and he showed how work done
on the private funds of the Smith
sonian had developed great govern
ment bureaus like the Weather
Bureau, the Fisheries Commission and
the National Museum.
Finally, he made clear that the
institution had arisen at the psyche
logical moment to reap for science the
benefits OF the material development
of the new continent.
Achievements of Secretary Henry
and of his successors. Baird Langley
and Walcott, were praised. and the
debt which America and which science
owes to these men and to Smtthson
was. characterized as great" by the
chancellor.
Administers I Bureaus.
In dealing with the Smithsonian =
activities. and capacities, DIR. Abbot
explained how the popular misappre-
hension that the institution was a
Government bureau had arisen from
the fact that it administers seven sci
entiflC bureaus for the Government.
L. ,sS fCr nd
for the Government, because the bu-
reaus in question had arisen out of
Smithsonian activities. He empha-
sized that the major work of the in
stitution continued to be research and
publication, and he listed Ia distinct
activities which contributed to these
ends. ..
To show how the Smithsonian had
been able to accomplish so much, DIR.
Abbot listed five principles evolved
by Prof. Henry and which have be-
come tradition with the establish
ment. These are, first, to embrace
all branches of knowledge; second, to
seek facts irrespective of their APP
parent economic value; third, to do
nothing that could be equally well
done by any other agency; fourth. to
maintain simple organization with a
minimum overhead, and fifth, to CO
operate with all serious workers in
science. .. ,s-ft nd
AS an Illustration of the great OPP
portunities for the increase and diff
fusion of knowledge which are poten
tial with the tremendous natural his
tory collections arnassed under direc
ton of the Smithsonian. the acting
secretary related the following
Mud Aids Oil Men.
For years the institution had been
gathering together samples Of bottom
muds from every sea in the world, in
cidental TO oceanographic studies. All
this material had piled up in the Ma
tionai Museum and would have been
considered by the average man as SO
much waste mud But the Smithsonian
Institution engaged an expert TO learn
all there was to know about one sin
gle family of little marine shelled an
FINALS, called raminifera, found in the
muds from sea bottoms. Six or seven
Years ago oil biologists discovered the
presence of certain species of the
foraninifera would serve as a guide
TO oil-bearing strata to a man who
knew about them. The only man in
the United States who did know was
this worker on the museum collections
under the Smithsonian. The oil com
panies turned to him for the informa-
ton which. as the eEncyclopedia Brit
tan1ca states. has brought about the
principal advance in the geological
technique of oil finding.
1t was in this connection that DR..
Abbot explained the inestirnabl
value of a systematic study of all
other specimens lust as important
from an Investigation standpoint as
the foraminifera.
American EthnOlogy Work.
OF the Smithsonian's possibilities
In the study of American ethnology
DIR. Abbot said The institution
created the Bureau of American