HISTORY. Upon the death of Smithson's nephew• Henry James Hungerford. in 1835. the United States legation in London was notified of the bequest. The disposition of the property was for ten years debated in Congress, but ulti mately the trust was accepted and Congress cre ated an establishment consisting, of the President and the members of his Cabinet who intrusted the management of the institution to a board of regents, consisting of the Vice-President and Chief Justice of the United States, three regents to be appointed by the president of the Senate, three by the Speaker of the House of Representa tives, and six to be selected by Congress, two of whom should be residents of the District of Co lumbia, and the other four from different States, no two being from the same State. The regents met for the first time on September 7, 1846. and elected Joseph Henry as executive officer, with the title of secretary, under whose guidance the institution took shape. He prepared a programme of organization. which was adopted in 1847 and has since been the plan under which the institu tion has been conducted. Having in mind the exact statements of Smithson, he recommended to `increase knowledge' by the following methods: (1) To stimulate men of talent to make original researches by offering suitable rewards for mem oirs containing new truths, and (2) to appropri ate annually a portion of the income for particu lar researches, under the direction of suitable persons. To 'diffuse knowledge' he proposed: (1) to publish a series of periodical reports on the progress of the different brandies of knowl edge; and (2) to publish occasional separate treatises 011 subject• of general interest.
Under Henry was begun the construction of a building designed by James Renwick in the Nor man style of architecture. which has since been
the home of the Smithsonian histitotion. A library was formed by exchange and purchase, and materials for a museum collected. Original re search was fostered. One of the first subjects to be studied under the direction of the Smith sonian Institution was the phenomena of storms, and the investigations of Espy and others led to the establishment of a telegraphic weather ser vice which subsequently developed into the 'Weather Bureau. The material collected by the various exploring expeditions and the Pacific railway surveys was deposited with the Smith sonian Institution, and that likewise led in time to the formation of the United States National Museum (q.v.). The 'diffusion of knowledge' was inaugurated by the issuing of various publi eat ions. These include: (1) Smithsonian Con tributions to Knowledy,, a quarto series of origi nal memoirs embracing the records of extended original investigations and researches, which be gan in 1848 with a monograph by Squier and Davis, and now comprises 32 volumes; (2) Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, an octavo series of papers on the present state of knowl edge on particular branches of science, which be gan in 1860, and now consists of 43 volumes; and (3) Annual Reports of the Board of Regents, which are also octavo in form and consist of the reports and proceedings of the officers of the in stitution, together with a general appendix con taming a selection of memoirs of interest to col laborators and correspondents of the institution, teachers, and others engaged in the promotion of knowledge. These reports began in 1847 and have been published annually since.