Show smithsonian Smiths onlan institution at washington its history one of the dukas of northumberland england in the last century had a son who taking his mothers was known as hr hir jdnes junes smithson Smiths cn lie he was a man ol 01 qu quiet hatt batt a taste for A small brasil property he inherited from his mother mothers and an annuity settled upon him ly by his tather father enabled him to gratify this taste during his life in 1787 he be was chosen a member of tho royal society satiety to whose philosophical transactions ho be communicated several valuable papers lie ile was the associate of many of the men mca of england and attained some distinction as a chemist frugal brogal in his habits and arudt la in hi bis his UnI hents ments his drad grad ta in creased to fortune DC ile had no fixed residence and formed no family ties the latter part of his life be he spent mostly on tb continent of europe lie ne never visited americas america and knew it only from such report reports as english travelers at tb that at time were accustomed to give of it lle ile drew up a wl will lly ils ty by which he be bequeathed his lis property tobis next kin a nephew for life and to his children absolutely and for tor ever but ax as there was a remote possibility that the will might be frustrated by the death of the legatees legate lega tees esy esp a saving faring clause was inserted providing that in such cale case the property hould should descend to THE UNITED STATES 0 or r AMERICA TO round FOUND AT washington UNDER THE NAME OF THE smithsonian institution I AN establishment FOR fort THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE AMONG MEN it contemplated a distant contingency only and probably was not inserted from any fixed plan or from any confident expectation of its being carried out it so happened that the distant contingency oc cured mr Smith smithson don son died at genoa in italy in 1829 leaving property to the amount of sterling 1115 ills ni nep cep hew bew died without issue five or six years after at riso piso the united states were then ihen forthe for the first time notified 0 of the bequest which had llad fallen to them congress immediately based a law authorizing the president to appoint an agent to apply to the english coult of chance chancery ry for the real and personal pers onal estate of james smithson and pledging the fa rath fath th of the government for the application of the fund to the purposes specified hon richard rushy rusby hush rush of philadelphia was accordingly appointed agent went out to eri Fri england giand gland obtained the property and paid altin itin gold sovereigns into the treasury of the united states in september 1838 it was Invest invested inverted edi by order of cengr congress e et la in arkansas stocks blocks here it bad another narrow chance of being lost for arkansas stocks blocks soon began to go down down down and shortly became worth about as much is as indiana bank bills are ara now but congress thinking t but right to repair the consequence of its own errors summed turned the stock at par values value and reinvested the tte amount in the united states state sixes there was no family to take or claim the household hio lio ff ti erects and what were not sold were bent to america the visitor at the patent office in washington will wills find one of the glass cases devoted to the preservation of th the 4 pe personal r erects of the late james SmIth sori sorl esq among these reiles relics are his plate plates walking apparatus ae th the original fund was and the accumulated interest amonn amounted tedy 1816 1516 to ar 1129 considering this enough to begin withy with congress in august of that year parsed passed another act to establish esta efta bieh blEb the institution it provided for the appointment of a board of fifteen regents minutely specifying the qualifications required and devoted the accruing interest Int erest erett t to defraying the expenses of erecting a build airy with library museum and laboratory in washington the prin principal cipa elpa I 1 Is not to be drenched hed bed upon hut but to remain a nt loan the present edifice on the mall was no cordingly accordingly commenced prore EEOr joseph ilen llen henry ry of princeton Is the secretary and on him devolves the ln flu tle tie of superintending super intending the institution the present boad of regents consists 14 chief justic taney a of maryland Ma mas kasnot snot ris lis of virginia and Doug Dong lasof latof english ind ana stuart michigan meacham vermont of tha the of representatives mr Tow towers erity the mayor of washington washing ton rutus rufus choate of if massachusetts hawley of new york judge ber riadh of georgia lithard rusby rushy of pennsy pennsylvania ivania proter prof es bor sor bache of the coast survey and general totten the law forbids the board to contain two citizens of the same state the building I 1 18 s now nearly completed the annual income Is |