Robert Stanton Avery, of Washington City, who died in 1894. The property bequeathed is estimated to be worth about seventyfive thousand dollars, and the income is to be devoted to special investigations in magnetism and electricity.
Finally, the position of the Smithsonian Institution is that of a "ward of the Government, having property of its own for which that Government acts as trustee, leaving its administration wholly with regents." Its most important function is to promote original research, reflecting thus the sentiment which occurs in the writings of James Smithson: "Every man is a valuable member of society who by his observations, researches, and experiments procures knowledge for men." The advancement of utilitarian interests commonly finds capital, for it appeals to the avarice of man; but the advancement of knowledge in its highest and widest sense secures little encouragement from wealthy men, and it is exactly this phase which the institution makes its own. Its next function is to make known to the world knowledge thus secured, for the benefit of mankind, and this it seeks to accomplish through its publications and their wide distribution.
The influence of the institution in local education is well shown by the following circumstance: Some years ago I was standing on the porch of the Norman building as two stout African "ladies" passed by. One of these remarked, "Let us go in there," pointing to the entrance. "Oh, no," replied the lady addressed, "there is nothing in there but 'Prehistoric Anthropology,'" pronouncing the words glibly and accurately. I listened with amazement, and pondered.
