enlargement of those "lurid specks in the vast field of darkness." He was also a collector. His cabinet of minerals comprised ten thousand specimens, including examples of nearly all the meteorites that have fallen in Europe for many centuries. It was doubtless the richest and rarest collection in the United States when it was brought to this country. But this cabinet, like his manuscripts, was destroyed by the fire of 1865.

Of the latter years of his life little is known. Ill health had marked him. His letters were those of a man who is resigned to his fate, who renounces without bitterness the youthful hope of fame. In 1826 he made his will. He had no immediate relatives. In his will he left some annuities to servants whom he had had, though none of them resided with him in France, but his estate he willed to his nephew and "his children, legitimate or illegitimate." Then follows the clause that made possible the institution that bears his name: "In case of the death of my nephew . . . . . I then bequeath the whole of my property to the United States of America to found at Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institution an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." Smithson died in Genoa 1829. There he is buried in the little English cemetery on the heights of San Beniquo. For many years there was no slab to indicate that he was the founder of the institution, but this defect has been remedied. The United States has placed a suitable slab at the grave and a tablet in the church, and keeps the place in very good order.

It has always been a puzzling question why Smithson left this bequest to the United States. He had never visited the country, he had no correspondents in America, he had shown no interest. in the new country. England was not specially fond of the United States. The generation that saw the second war with Great Britain had not passed away. England could but look upon the United States as a monument to her King's folly in colonial administration. Neither was this gift direct. It was dependent upon a condition. Should his nephew ever have any children then the whole estate was to go to them. Smithson died not knowing what would become of his estate. It was this residual phrase inserted in his will between an annuity to a servant and an investment of funds that gave him that immortality his young

ambition longed for. Another puzzling question is, Where did Smithson get his idea of a great institution at Washington City? President Washington had favored a great national university. He thought it would help to unite the States; with Washington a national university was to be a powerful political dissolvent, just as the assumption of the national debt and the national bank were. In his farewell address, Washington used words that have some resemblance to the words of Smithson's will. "Promote as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge." Had Smithson seen these words? Did he consciously use Washington's "general diffusion of knowledge?" These things we do not know.

The Smithsons had not been unfriendly to America. Sir Hugh Smithson opposed the war with the colonies and secured leave of absence for his son Lord Percy, who was ordered to America. This young Lord Percy did not accept the leave of absence, saying that his duty was in the service of the King. He came to Boston with General Gage, who put him in command of the camp at Boston. Young Percy's letters to his father give an account of the battles at Lexington and Concord. He respected his enemies. His letters do not show that supercilious contempt that most Englishmen showed for the colonists at that time. He made a lasting impression upon the New England fathers. They were pleased to remember that it took one of the house of Percy to command the army against them. Lowell says:

Old Joe is gone who saw hot Percy goad
His slow artillery up the Concord road.

Had Joe lived long enough, that scrambling fight
Had squared more nearly with his sense of right,
And vanquished Percy, to complete the tale,
Had hammered stone for life in Concord jail.

The reputation that Smithson sought never came to him. He died a man unknown to fame, friendless in a distant country, selfexpatriated, but a greater fame came to him in a newer land. Said a President of the United States, "Renowned as is the name of Percy in the historical annals of England . . . . . let the trust of James Smithson to the United States of America be faithfully executed . . . . . let the result accomplish his object, 'the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,' and a wreath more

unfading shall entwine itself, in the lapse of future ages, around the name of Smithson than the united bands of history and poetry have braided around the name of Percy through the long ages past."

Smithson's will was made in 1826. His death occurred in 1829. All his estate passed to his nephew, who died childless in 1835. Smithson's solicitors informed the government that there was a bequest in their hands awaiting it. Andrew Jackson was President. He at once communicated the news to Congress in a message of December 1, 1835. The Senate referred the matter to a committee who reported favorably on its acceptance. Calhoun and Preston opposed the acceptance on the ground that it was beneath the dignity of this country to accept a gift. Jefferson Davis, however, gave it his strong support and the measure prevailed. In the Lower House the measure found a strong and eloquent champion in ex-President John Quincy Adams, who ever took great interest in the bequest.

President Jackson appointed Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, to go to England and look after the matter. Rush had held many responsible positions in the government, had been minister to England and to France. A wiser selection could not have been made. Mr. Rush went to London and instituted a friendly suit in Chancery for the possession of the bequest. To enter Chancery was to enter upon a long road. There were cases in this court that had been there for generations. Usually it would have taken till 1860 for this court to get through with it, but mirabile dictu! the suit was ended within two years. Mr. Rush took possession of the bequest and had it converted into gold sovereigns by the Bank of England. To transport them to this country Mr. Rush had the bank to place the sovereigns in 105 bags, each containing 1,000 sovereigns except one. Mr. Rush was very careful to have every penny placed in these bags, for his record says that in another bag there is also "eight shillings and seven pence wrapped in paper." Mr. Rush reached New York in 1838 and turned the bags over to the mint, still being very careful to note every penny. His exactness was not so very exact, for the other bag, so the later entry says, contained "eight shillings and six pence" only. The contents, including the annuity paid the nephew's mother, amounted to $550,000. The Secretary of the Treasury

at once invested the funds in Arkansas State bonds paying six per cent. In 1846 Arkansas failed to pay the interest on the bonds, but the United State felt impelled as a trustee to pay the interest and to be responsible for every investment. The United States has ever since paid six per cent. on $538,000 invested in Arkansas securities. For eight years Congress discussed the disposition, or rather the use, to be made of the bequest. President Van Buren invited many learned men to give the government their opinions of the best means of "increasing and diffusing knowledge among mankind." Various plans were proposed.

At first it was thought that Smithson intended that a great university should be founded. Five out of the seven men consulted by the President thought that a post-graduate university, such as is contemplated in part by the Carnegie bequest, was the proper plan. Mr. Rush, whose enthusiasm was boundless, was opposed to any school. He argued for "a system of scientific correspondence, of lectureships, of general co-operation with the scientific work of the government, a liberal system of publication and collections-geological, zo-ological, botanical, ethnological, and technological."

Ex-President Adams, whose interest in the bequest never abated, favored the establishment of an Astronomical Observatory “equal to any in the world." Mr. Adams was strongly opposed to the university idea, while Senator Robbins, of Rhode Island, introduced several bills in its favor. When Robbins retired from public life, which he did very soon, the university idea was dropped.

An agricultural school with experimental farms of 1,300 acres each, a large staff of teachers, and one hundred students at the commencement was also proposed. Specialists in each line felt that their subjects were the one most important to mankind, and each urged that his specialty be made prominent. In 1843 Adams records in his diary with much disgust that the Secretary of the Treasury informed him that his scheme of an astronomical observatory was unpopular because he had once termed it a "light-house in the skies."

While this discussion was in progress, new agencies were at work. In May, 1840, there was organized a society entitled the National Institute, whose objects were "the promotion of science

and the useful arts and the establishment of a museum of natural history." The National Institute took deep interest in the Smithson bequest. Its meetings were largely attended; books, gifts, and specimen began to come in and its prospects were flattering. This society continued to influence opinion till the Smithsonian Act was finally passed. The most influential man in the National Institute was Joel R. Poinsett, who was secretary of the navy. At his house the Institute was organized and for several years he was its president. Poinsett was very clear in his views that the Smithson bequest was a great opportunity for the Institute, and boldly declared that their objects were the same. He even said the National Institute ought to have the administration of the fund. His enthusiasm was contagious. Even Adams said that he would have to give up his plan for that of Poinsett. The strongest men in America favored the National Institute. Congress granted the society a charter. President Tyler addressed the body with high encomiums, but the society had no funds. It was thought that Congress would grant the funds or, at least, give the society the control of the Smithson bequest and make it an agent of the government. Congress did not do this, and so the society came to a slow end. However, it had lived long enough to demonstrate to all that the new bequest ought not to be used to found schools, but that it should be made a general agency for the advancement of scientific interests of all kinds.

After various discussions-eight years after the bequest was received-Congress passed the Smithsonian Act, August, 1846. John Quincy Adams and Poinsett were the most influential men in determining the final act. The national museum and library idea had triumphed. The National Institute had not lived its five years in vain. It had stamped its impress indelibly upon the new institution.

The Smithsonian Institution, according to the Smithsonian Act, consists of an Establishment whose statutory members are the President of the United States, Chief Justice and other cabinet officials. Their duty is to supervise and instruct the Board of Regents. The Establishment has met eight times. They have been free to call in distinguished men to sit with them.