Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 30, 1902, Page 27

Smithsonian Institution and National Muscum THE SMITHSONIAN BUILDING AT WASHINGTON. NORTH HALL IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM cdge among men.'’ This fortune amounted to between $500,000 and $750,000, a lill'j.'l" sum in the period bef re the war, but the trust was accepted by con- gress only after an in- termittent ten years' debate of the ques tion: Should or should not the United States government accept the unprecedented positicn of a guardian to a ward? Fortunately the answer was affirmative, and an act of con- gress created an ‘“‘es- tablishment' consist- ing of high govern- ment officers to ad- minister the Smith- son fund for the JAMES SMITHSON, ENGLISH FOUNDEK benefit of science the OF AMERICA'S CHIEF SCIENTIFIC IN- world over. The pos- tains some fifty arti cles, many of them from popular as well ag scientific magazine and periodicals, nearly all profusely illus trated with pictures, ranging from 1 com parison of the largest and smallest eggs to the final scene in a great French automo bile race. The aver age reader has seen “profusely illustrated” volumes in which th illustrations consisted of a frontispiece and a decorated capital, but in this case the ex- pression embraces no less than 179 illustra- tions, some of them beautiful examples of the modern art of SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY, SECRE- STITUTION. sible activities of the color printing. Knowl- TARY SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. fnstitution are there- edge, that is to say, s ASHINGTON, Nov. (Special fore |.‘..m|.:~ ‘ll.\ is taken in ite broad- Are still a long way from the ballot box Correspondence of e Bee.)— board of “regents,’” as est sense, and modern Here the institution, forgetting for a intelligence, as repre- moment the serious business of corre- sented by the ordinar- $ponding with learned societies in Europe, ily well informed in- Asia, and Africa, to say nothing of the -|i.\i<l\|:|l‘ is crediteq ©Other continents, sets {tself to the task of it suffi- Amusing and interesting the very youngest Perhaps the most universally in- they are called, form teresting ‘“free book” ever pub- perhaps the best con- lished, containing over 800 pages necting link in the and nearly 200 illustrations, has just been world between capital izsued by the national government for gen- seeking a wise avenue with an cral distribution to the American people of benevolence and ciently sified to ‘_’"i“'l‘k.m 'h“ A ”--CIE .Uf falegon, < Aho through their congressmen. *“The People's science handicapped by include mnot only the 4-.1.\1'3. are .nrl.nlxg(:(l, says the author, Dr Own Book,"” indeed, would be a truer title lack of money to latest development of Albert Bigelow Paine, In‘ . :'lm‘nunl thnY than the cne it bears—'Annual Report of carry on its thou:zand the submarine boat, ““K“.M”y umw.nr(\d D LRE VION0IR), BYS the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian and one special in- but also the peoples ““?‘ saapted, with oxqulnltx‘-ly oolored. ple- Institution”—but although the name is not vestigations Even that ‘once {lnhabited thres. 0 the uams of the Rmithsonisn re- our continent, the pos- POrt-—just “‘as a child would wish them, and sible improvement ot he will begin, perhaps, with those on the the human race under left as he enters—the cases of the birds. existing conditions, the At the first of these he will linger. Within result of a century's 8r¢ the ‘Largest and smallest birds of study of meteorites Prey.’ He will look at the great condor or an essay on the im- of the Andes, and the bald eagle, and then portance of the sea in 4t the tiny sparrow hawk; and he will the life of nations. Wonder why these are so big and that so One of the more pop- l!ittle, and if the bald eagle could whip ular articles, for ex the condor in a fair fight. He thinks it ample, is a study of likely, because the condor has blunt claws the National zoo by 80 blunt, the card says, that he cannot Ernest Thompson Se- ¢arry oft the big animals he sometimes ton, which is reprintea Kills. The condor is bigger than the bald exactly eloquent with promise, yet the where the institution same volume in the hands of a corps of cannot directly over- energetic book agents would probably find see scientific expendi- its way into the librarics of a goodly pro- ture, its authoritative portion of American homes. position is in itself a The new report—always an event in guaranty of wise sug- Washington scientific circles—marks the gestions and advice, beginning of a new century for the Smith- whether to the donor sonian institution and is the latest and or to the scientist most comprehensive expression of its two- himself. “The rela- fold purpose of increasing learning and tions of the general diffusing knowledge among men. The first government to the purpose applies to readers already inter- Smithsonian,” to quote ested in technically scientific matters; the apropos of this point, second is distinctly popular, appealing di- from its latest volume, rectly to the far larger class whose interesi ‘“‘are most extraordi- from a leading maga ‘)““"'- but he is not so good looking, and is general rather than technical. Science nary, one may even zine, accompanied by : """"""ll "‘l"“fl not like him. He likes much in these days is a large field, and aside say unique, since the all the original illus etier the largest owl, the great eagle owl, trations from the brush Who lives in the vast, trackless woods of and pencil of this fa northern Europe and Asia—a monarch of mous portrayer of anl the far, dim stillness; and if the child {is mala little, she adores the smallest of his race, the tiny elf owl, who might well be a from the reports of the various great de- United States sol- partments that have grown up under the emly bound itself to protection of the Smithsonian, the volume the administration of is practically a library of modern progress a trust. Probably i during the last year, ranging from popular never before has any R Here one may read ..., sprite to dart from the leafy, dewy H magazine articles on automobiles and auto- ward found so power about the newest dis- tangle of evening e {! mobile racing, the aerial experiments of ful a guardian.” The y\RGEST AND SMALLEST BIRDS OF PREY—THE HARPY EAGLE AND A coveries in astronomy; «The gmal] observer passes on. ‘Some Santcs-Dumont, or the epoch-making dis- “trust” is obviously —qiNYy HAWK COMPARED FOR THE CHILDREN i the explorations of the Curious Birds' come next, and he must ‘ overy of wireless telegraphy, to expert of a different kind atmosphere by means goo them, even if he has "” ‘m“ - ll- :“h wnalysis of such technical subjects as res from others with which the Americay ion. In this way it has become identified of kites, one of the most interesting recent gp 'l:lll]vl.lgll‘ and yh:: nd -I 'M; o4 : cent investigations into gravitation or the public is more familiar. with the important task of studying tha scientific experiments; the latest investiga different-sized m;]q by ,”:‘;' ‘l’\"“l l‘l”-“ .‘hp discussion of bodies smaller than atoms. First of all, therefore, the Smithsonian aborigines of our own continent, through tions into the X-ray; wireless telegraphy; qurs and laughs !;):r K)Il‘ll ] ’ S Diras But what is the Smithsonian? The name exists to increase learning and diffuse the Bureau of Ethnology, and with the man- transatlantic te lephoning; the invention of pp, )y they .‘r,,‘f‘ m“', , 1 '" L.‘u““”” birds. is familiar enough, but—perhaps for that knowledge One of these two abstract agement of the great astrophysical observa- the telephonograph, an application of the pave’ fans ‘Hn(‘ fold w ()‘:l.r uuruu'ur lvhflm very reason—the meaning and purposes of propositions has taken concrete form in tory, the National museum and the Na- tel phone that is already delivering the aprons A'I“M:\ ]'...‘.»n .l.rfl.m‘\nl vells, an institution established by the United financial assistance to scientific investigat- tional Zoological garden at Washirgton daily news to the numerous subscribers in ;.9 ;”“ “,“.‘.'“,‘lll, ,A'l “,Il]f“",'ll“ What States government and therefore one in « The second has been attained by a Reports are rot ordinarily very exciting some European cities; color photography; i) 7The hl'n-l; k‘l“ “ll,‘,l ‘l,“ ‘I‘.Mml big which every citizen has, or ought to have, general diffusion of scientific literature. reading, yet it is hardly necessary to say the history and mechanics of motion pic the wrcna “.‘n, h\ ,"”“fl S,”“" .m“ i b a personal interest, are rather hazy in the both technical and popular, on so stupend- that ali these interests brought together tures: American “‘emigrant’” diamonds—dia one tail L\\h»‘-l'~: l; l"“"]rll’;lm‘“h““I“.‘l s '~‘ minds of a ood many among its millions ous a scale that, were the packing boxes in a single volume make an exceptional monds found where the mIneralogist very long tails that Lo e Desides two of proprietors. And this despite the fact used in sending ‘“exchanges” of pub'ica- publication—the more a period when wouldn't expect them, that is; forest de- foatper a a “.,m Are Dalf saw and balt that it has made Washington the center tions—its own and those of othor scien scient Progress taking such practical struction and irrigation; the traps used by eare 'n‘,“‘ "l". h,"l"[ “'v'm behind his of a scientific correspondence that covers tific organizations—from the United States form improved means of transportation, the American Indian; fire-walking in Tahiti; |, I‘: Kk w(“‘” |; i ]l'\ S row of “_“]" bat- the whole civilized world, and that the to foreign countries during a single year lighting and communication, is a matter to the dinosaurs, or “terrible lizards,” once na :»Iu :I ‘. ; > “'nkwl' with thelr heads Naticnal Museum at Washington, supportea piled up cne on top of another, they would appeal to the uriosity of everybody For tive to this continent; or the latest adven ,';I “,,I“T " Im-"'. The child wonders why the by the government but managed by the make a column that would now tower five that matter the Smithsonian report 8 tures of the submarine boat. In a word, the ",:m ,'“.‘M,'”l, “”-l_'“ thelr heads, and how Smithsonian, is yearly visited by over 250,- times as high as the Washington monu- peally only about one-sixth “report;"” the whole world is drawn upon for material ,,:“kl:‘,' 'r,'l,“ rhl“‘,l lm“ 8o ”m'”“)' th . 4 000 sightseers ment remaining five-sixths are a general appen- that shall interest and instruct 1tk ““‘L ‘.- of his head covering, Almast y lvj 1829 .-’-”“‘v‘ Smithson, an Englishman But the Smithsonian has naturally be- dix of miscellaneous papers, the authors of (Ope of the most delightful articles in "'“’“H“ ‘,:)::l".l:"“; 'h:l”“ )l“"'," funny attach lied in Genca, leaving his entire estate come associated with other work of a more which include such men as Marconi, Four- the volume is about the “Children’s Room,”" all exc '”I" m:_ 1€ they don’t seem to need to the United States of America, ‘“to found at Washington, under the name of th poor apteryx from Austra has much less than he should because he is left over from some strictly national character, provided by na- nier, the famous French automobilist; Rear he re Dr. 8. P. Langley, the secretary lia, who tional appropriations and entrusted by the Admiral Melville of the United States navy; and executive of the Smithsonian, has d l,‘.\. ! iment government to its ward as the body best Albert Bigelow Paine and Sir William J. voted a part of the space at his command for the increase and diffusion of knowl- situated to carry it to a successful conclu- Herschell. Altogether this appendix con- to the sole pleasure of the small fry who (Continued on Seventh Page.) Smithsonian institute an - esta