Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, D.C., was organised by act of congress in 1846 in accordance with the will of James Macie Smithson (1765-1829), who, in a fit of pique at the Royal Society's rejection of a paper which he had submitted in 1826, bequeathed the reversion of an estate of £105,000 to the United States of America to found 'at Washington an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.' He was an Englishman, a natural son of Sir Hugh Smithson, first Duke of Northumberland, and Mrs Elizabeth Macie, a niece of Charles, Duke of Somerset. He devoted his life to scientific pursuits, especially to chemistry and mineralogy, was a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1787, and for long a member of the French Institute, and died in Genoa. The institution is a body of which the presiding officer ex officio is the president of the United States, and the Chief-justice of the United States customarily the chancellor. It is governed by a board of regents appointed by the Federal government, its direction under them being confided to a chief officer styled the Secretary. It has a spacious and beautiful building, forming one of the chief architectural adornments of the capital, which is occupied by offices and workrooms, but mainly by the collections of the government, which also fill a separate adjoining edifice covering nearly 2½ acres. In these buildings under its ownership or direction are the results of the exploring, surveying, geological, ethnological, and other expeditions of the Smithsonian and the government, known as the United States National Museum. The work of the institution is to promote original research; to publish the results of investigations, and distribute them freely to libraries in every land; to facilitate the interchange of scientific thought and labour, by sending and receiving free of cost the publications of all learned societies. It has a library of 100,000 volumes. Its publications consist of a quarto series, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, an octavo series, Miscellaneous Collections, both published at the expense of the fund, and an annual Report printed by congress. The Smithsonian fund now consists of 703,000, on which and on all sums not to exceed a million dollars congress pays 6 per cent. interest. This is entirely distinct from the sums annually appropriated by government for the following bureaus of the institution: (1) the National Museum, (2) the Bureau of Ethnology, (3) the Bureau of International Exchanges, (4) the National Zoological Park, (5) the Astro-physical Observatory. These sums (about 300,000) are under the direction of the institution. See Nature, xl. 346, liii. 257-261; Rhees, Smithson and his Bequest (1880); E. B. Goode, The Smithsonian Institution (1897).