Logo
Prev
Bookmark
Rotate
Print
Next
Contents
All Pages
Related Articles
Browse Issues
Help
Search
Home
'
National Geographic : 1960 Jun
Contents
man wrote: "I James Smithson son to hugh first Duke of Northumberland & Elizabeth heiress of the hungerfords of studley ... " So, on that October evening of 1826, a few pen scratches outlined one of themost remark able bequests of all time. "... Inthecaseofthedeathofmy.. . nephew without leaving a child ... I then be queath the whole of my property . . . to the United States of America, to found at Wash ington, under the name of the Smithsonian institution, an establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men." Donor Resented Social Slights Why should a wealthy Englishman of the 1820's decide to give his fortune to a young republic far across the seas, a land he had never seen? Queen Mother Elizabeth of Brit ain, on the occasion of her 1954 visit to the United States, asked me that question. I could give her no certain answer. All we know is that the lonely Englishman in his cheerless bachelor lodgings had rea son for bitterness. Because he bore the life long stigma of illegitimacy, he had been denied his father's title and place in society. Substantial wealth inherited from his father, one of the leading peers of the realm, and from his mother, a descendant of King Henry VII, did not keep the injustice of his social position from rankling deeply. An industrious student, Smithson resolved to achieve honor in his own right. He be came proficient in the new sciences of chem istry and mineralogy; once he caught a tear on a lady's cheek and analyzed it chemically. His wide investigations were recorded in scores of manuscripts and 27 published papers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Having achieved a name, Smithson deter mined to perpetuate it. He wrote: "The best blood of England flows in my veins; on my father's side I am a Northumberland, on my mother's I am related to Kings, but this avails me not. My name shall live in the mem ory of man when the titles of the Northum berlands and the Percys are extinct and for gotten." Smithson died in 1829. Six years later his nephew died childless, and Washington learned to its amazement that the United States was heir to more than half a million dollars, a tremendous sum in that day. Surprisingly enough, Congress was not sure it wanted the money. "It is beneath our dig nity to receive presents from anyone," thun dered such opponents as John C. Calhoun. But the eloquence of more farsighted men, including John Quincy Adams, prevailed, and the legacy was accepted. On August 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed the bill creating the Smithsonian Institution. Joseph Henry, America's most distinguished scientist at the time, served as Secretary for the Institution's first 32 years. His princi ples still govern the Smithsonian: "The great object is to facilitate in every way the promo tion of science, and especially the fostering of original research, and enlarging the bounds of human thought." He decreed that no branch of knowledge should be excluded from the Smithsonian's attention. Whatever Smithson's motives may have been, he achieved spectacularly his ambi tion to preserve his name. The Institution he founded has become one of the world's most influential scientific and cultural centers.* Researchers Pioneer in Many Fields The first organization in America to main tain a full-time staff of research workers across the broad field of science, the Smithsonian has played a major role in the surge of American scientific progress of the past century. It has assisted at the birth of such sciences as me teorology, aeronautics, and rocketry; of such Federal agencies as the Weather Bureau; of such organizations as the American Associa tion for the Advancement of Science and the National Geographic Society. Since Smithson's death, an estimated 2,000 expeditions have carried his name to every part of the earth (map, page 828). Some ten thousand scholarly books and monographs bear the Smithsonian imprint. The Institu tion's scientific observatories girdle the globe. Scientists and scholars in increasing numbers use its laboratories, its vast study collections, * For an earlier picture, see "The Smithsonian Institution," by Thomas R. Henry, NATIONAL GEO GRAPHIC, September, 1948. A Triumph of Taxidermy, the Giant of Elephants Strides in Majesty Footprints more than two feet long led J. J. Fenyk6vi, Madrid industrialist and big game hunter, to this bull in the Angola jungle. Largest land animal in modern records, the 12-ton monster towered more than 13 feet at the shoulder; his hide weighed two tons. He dropped under the impact of 16 heavy-caliber bullets. A carefully modeled papier-mache form supports the hide in the rotunda of the Natural History Building. HS EKTACHROMEBY NATIONALGEOGRAPHICPHOTOGRAPHERBATES LITTLEHALES© N.G.S. 807
Links
Archive
1960 Jul
1960 May
Navigation
Previous Page
Next Page