Ethos Of The Smithsonian Institute

The principles of the world famous Smithsonian Institute are the “diffusion of knowledge” and the "increase of knowledge". The diffusion appears in the thousands of publications housed at the Washington institution. The quest for an increase can be found in the research that is carried on in the laboratories behind the doors marked "no admittance" or "employees only," and in the offices adjacent to the great study collections of animals, plants, minerals, fossils, crania, and ethnological material. Indeed, it would be difficult to name a branch of scientific research with which the Smithsonian Institution has not, sometime or other, been concerned. And that, certainly, is as Smithson wished, for in his will he did not limit in any way whatever the scope, breadth, or direction of the Institution's activities so long as they should increase and diffuse knowledge among men.

It was as if he wanted to put into direct effect George Washington's Farewell Address injunction: "Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge." A roster of distinguished Smithsonian scientists would contain many names inseparable from the history of American science. And readers of this magazine would perhaps be surprised at the number of great naturalists among them. From its very start natural history has been one of the Smithsonian's chief concerns, and over the century it has made perhaps its most enduring contribution in that field.

The first great and greatest of these Naturalists was Spencer Fullerton Baird, who became assistant secretary of the Smithsonian in 1850, when he was only 27, and spent the rest of his life in the service of the Institution. In 1878, at the death ol Joseph Henry, Baird was elected secretary, and he served in that capacity until his own death in 1887. Before he went to Washington Baird was professor of natural history at Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pa., his alma mater, hut his reputation as a scientist had far outgrown the classroom. Among his correspondents and friends he numbered the foremost naturalists of the day, including John James Audubon, John Cassin, Louis Agassiz, Asa Gray, J. D. Dana, Joseph Leidy, W. H. Dall, and many others.

These friendships stood him in excellent stead when he began to administer the Smithsonian's affairs. Al Carlisle he had made large collections of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and plants, many of which he packed up and took with him to Washington, where they are still preserved in their various departments at the National Museum. In spite of his administrative duties, Baird was able to continue his work as a zoologist. The mid-nine- Spencer Fullerton Baird became assistant secretary of the Smithsonian in 1850, when he was only twenty-seven, and spent the rest of his life in its service, the first and greatest of the naturalists who have contributed to its distinguished history.

By: davidbunch

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