The Smithsonian Institution is situated on a fifty-two acre reservation between the Capitol and the Potomac River. The main building is near the center of the grounds opposite Tenth Street, West. It is built of a fine light purplish gray freestone which is soft when it comes from the quarry, but becomes almost like granite on long exposure to the air. It constitutes the great National Museum, in animal, vegetable, geological, and even social life. Relics of almost every administration, particularly from Washington’s to Jackson’s time, are preserved here.
James Smithson was the natural son of Sir Hugh Smithson, first Duke of Northumberland. James Smithson took a degree in Oxford in 1786. He died in Genoa, June, 1829. He desired to found in the United States, a land he never saw, an institution which should live in the memory of men when the titles of his ancestors, the Northumberlands and the Percys, were extinct and forgotten.
The institution is for the increase of knowledge among men. It assists scientific men in original research, and it publishes the results, which are sent to leading libraries, and are also accessible to scientists throughout the land.
The bequest was for several years before Congress, but in 1846, when the funds had reached three-fourths of a million dollars, the Smithsonian Institution was founded.
Its translators turn all scientific works into English, so that Americans can have the benefit of them in their own language.
Miss Thora Steineger, a Norwegian lady, has charge of the classification of all animals received by the Smithsonian. Women’s work in the scientific departments is gradually increasing, as colleges, like Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, and Bryn Mawr give more and more attention to science.
Here one can see the birds of all lands, animals of every clime, vegetation from every latitude. The idols of heathendom glare at passers-by; the quaint costumes of the Asiatics, the Eskimos of the extreme North, and the inhabitants of the islands of the sea are worn by wax figures so lifelike that one almost fears to make any comment in their presence.
The fruits of much of the learning of the world are under this roof, and every youth in our land should see its classic stores.
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BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
