ADVERTISEMENT. The Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution in January, 1878, requested its Secretary to prepare and publish a history of its origin and progress, such as he was pre-eminently qualified to furnish. The materials necessary for this purpose had in part been brought together, when the death of Professor Henry, on the 13th of May, prevented the carrying out of the original plan. As the documents collected are necessary to any future historian of the Institution, Mr. Wm. J. Rhees, who had been entrusted by Professor Henry with their selection, was requested by the Chancellor, Chief Justice Waite, to continue the work, and the present volume is the result of his labors. In this will be found the Will of Smithson, all the Congressional debates and legislation relative to the bequest, and many documents which could probably only have been brought to light by one perfectly familiar with the operations of the Institution, Mr. Rhees having been associated with Professor Henry, as its Chief Clerk, for more than twenty-five years. The amount of labor in the preparation of this volume, was very great, as all the data were procured from original sources. Manuscripts and documents were consulted in the Department of State, Treasury Department, the Capitol, and elsewhere; and every page of the voluminous records of the proceedings of Congress for more than forty years was carefully examined so that an account of everything relating to the Institution could be presented. SPENCER F. BAIRD, Secretary Smithsonian Institution. WASHINGTON, April, 1879. PREFACE. Many individuals have become entitled to gratitude for gifts to, a community or services to their country, but few have acquired distinction as the benefactors of mankind. The desire for posthumous fame has induced some to erect monuments to themselves by founding libraries, others by endowing schools of learning or charitable establishments; but very few have succeeded in devising a plan by which their names should not only acquire world-wide renown, but their benefactions be of universal application. To James Smithson belongs the rare and proud distinction that his bequest is for no particular locality and confined to no limited period. His aim is to benefit all men, and is never-ending in its action. Smithson selected the United States of America to carry into effect his noble design, believing that to confer a benefit on all mankind he could confide in a nation composed of representatives of all races, where no narrow interpretation would be given to his words, or selfish limitation be placed on his charity. Turning from the unstable monarchies and decaying empires of Europe, he sought for perpetuity of his ideas in the rising power and wonderful progress of the young republic. Smithson's life was devoted to original research, as all his writings show, and accustomed to the use of the precise language of scientific investigators, he made the words of his will brief, but as explicit as his intention was clear to his own mind. Nevertheless his idea was in advance of popular intelligence in this country, and a discussion took place which rendered it impossible for eight years for Congress to adopt a plan to carry out his beneficent intention. Legacies too often prove more fruitful of wasteful litigation or disputation than of immediate or general benefit, and the history of the Smithson bequest should prevent other philanthropists from |