covery, viz., the constancy of certain fossils in certain formations, and their dissimilarity to those of the adjacent strata. Collecting these in the strata he had been able to examine, he arranged them in the order of their natural position, and was thus led to the recognition of the fact that these several layers had each in turn formed the bed of the sea, and had its inhabitants, whose remains now constituted its fossils. Having fully established this idea, he made a long journey through England and Wales, and commenced in 1794 a "Map of the Strata of England and Wales;" and 5 years later he drew up in tabular form the "Order of the Strata and their Organic Remains, in the Vicinity of Bath, examined and proved prior to 1799." In 1801 a small geological map of England was produced, and in 1815 the Geological Map of England and Wales, with Part of Scotland," accompanied by an interesting treatise. Between 1819 and 1824 he published 21 geological maps of English counties, colored to represent the strata, and some works on organic remains. In 1824 and the 4 subsequent years he lectured on geology at various places. From 1828 to 1834 he resided at Hackness, the estate of Sir J. V. B. Johnstone, where for the first time geological principles were applied to the development of agriculture. His geological map of that estate, executed with great minuteness and exactness, is a model for such productions. In 1831 he received from the geological society the Wollaston medal for his great discoveries in geology; and in 1838 he was appointed by the government a member of the commission for selecting the stone for the new houses of parliament.

SMITH, WILLIAM, LL.D., an English classical and biblical scholar, born in London in 1814. He was educated at University college, London, and studied law, but abandoned the profession for a professorship of the Greek, Latin, and German languages at the Independent collegiate schools of Highbury and Homerton. In 1850, on the consolidation of Coward college with Highbury and Homerton academies, to form New college, London, Dr. Smith was appointed professor of the Greek and Latin languages and literature; and in 1853 he was appointed classical examiner in the university of London. In 1841 he commenced the publication in numbers of the "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities," of which he was the editor, and many of the articles were from his pen. This was completed in 1842, and followed by the "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology" (3 vols. 8vo., 1843-'9), the "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography" (2 vols. 8vo., 1857), and the "Dictionary of Biblical Biography, History, and Literature" (vol. i., 1859). All these dictionaries (except the last, still unfinished) have been abridged by him for the use of schools. He has also written several school histories, among which are a "History of Greece," and an abridgment VOL. XIV. 47

of the same; an edition of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," and a "Student's Gibbon" and "Student's Hume," each in one volume. He has also published a LatinEnglish dictionary (1855) based on Forcellini and Freund, and is now (1862) engaged in editing a new "Biographia Britannica.'

SMITH, SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY, an English admiral, born in Midgham, Sussex, in 1764, died in Paris, May 26, 1840. He entered the navy at the age of 12 as a midshipman, and before he was 20 had attained the rank of post-captain. After the close of the American war he participated, by the permission of the government, in the war between Sweden and Russia as a captain in the Swedish service, and after the surrender of Toulon to Lord Hood he effected the destruction of those French ships of war which could not be removed, and also of a large amount of ammunition and military stores. Soon after, in command of a small flotilla, he harassed French commerce in the channel, but in April, 1796, was captured by a superior force and confined in the prison of the Temple in Paris. The French government refusing to exchange him, he effected his escape by French aid after an imprisonment of two years. In 1798 he was put in command of a squadron destined to operate against the French on the coast of Egypt, and conducted the memorable defence of St. Jean d'Acre, against a numerous army under Napoleon, with a skill and courage which gained him the title of the "hero of Acre." He signed a treaty with Gen. Kléber for the evacuation of Egypt by the French, and after the disavowal of this proceeding by the British government participated in the war, until compelled, chiefly by wounds received at the battle of Alexandria (March, 1801), to return to England. He met with an enthusiastic reception, and upon the renewal of the war was appointed to an active command. His services until the general peace were varied and important, and at the close of the war he received a pension of £1,000 and was made a K.C.B. At the period of his death he held the rank of admiral in the British navy and lieutenant-general of marines, having succeeded William IV. in the latter office. The latter years of his life were, in consequence of pecuniary misfortunes which obliged him to leave England, passed in Paris. He was one of the earliest advocates of abolishing the slave trade. Memoirs of his "Life and Times" were written by I. Barrow (2 vols., London, 1847).

SMITHFIELD, a township of Providence co., R. I., bounded E. and N. E. by the Blackstone river, and traversed along its N. E. border by the Providence and Worcester railroad; pop. in 1860, 13,283. Its centre is about 9 m. N. W. from Providence. Beside the Blackstone river, there are several small streams which drain the township, and some of which furnish valuable mill sites. On the Blackstone there is a remarkable fall called Woonsocket falls, of about 20 feet descent, and having numerous

circular excavations, some of them of considerable size. In the S. part of the township is a pond called Scott's pond a mile long and half a mile wide, of great depth, its banks descending almost precipitously. In the central portion there are extensive quarries of limestone, producing a superior quality of lime, which is largely exported. There are also quarries of soapstone or talcose slate, and of whetstone of good quality. Along the Blackstone river is a succession of manufacturing villages almost joining each other. The most important are Central Falls, Lonsdale, Albion, Manville, Woonsocket, and Slatersville. In 1857 there were in the town 28 cotton and 2 woollen mills, with 3,252 looms and 142,648 spindles, manufacturing annually 26,211,000 yards of cloth, and consuming 4,277,291 lbs. of cotton and 22,800 lbs. of wool; a bleachery, turning out 7,700,000 yards of cloth; a scythe factory, making 7,000 dozen scythes, and consuming 1,200 tons of iron and steel; 5 thread factories, making from 300,000 to 400,000 lbs. of thread annually; a brass foundery, a rotary pump factory, 4 grist mills, and 9 saw mills. The capital employed in manufactures in 1860 was $3,334,300; value of raw material used during the year, $2,721,780; annual product, $6,886,483; total value of taxable property, $6,540,410. There were 13 churches, and 35 school districts, with an average of 1,743 scholars in summer and 1,902 in winter.

SMITHSON, JAMES, an English physicist, and founder of the Smithsonian institution, died in Genoa, June 27, 1829. He was a natural son of Hugh, third duke of Northumberland, and Mrs. Elizabeth Macie, heiress of the Hungerfords of Audley, and niece of Charles, duke of Somerset. He was educated at Oxford, where in 1786 he took an honorary degree under the name of James Lewis Macie, but soon afterward adopted the name of Smithson, the family name of his father, by which he was always subsequently known. At the university he distinguished himself greatly as a chemist, and was one of the first to adopt the method of minute analysis. His fondness for this and other branches of physical science led him to devote himself exclusively to scientific pursuits, and he became the friend and associate of Wollaston, Banks, Davy, Black, and Thompson. In 1790 he was elected a fellow of the royal society, and almost immediately became a contributor to its "Transactions," 8 papers in which are from his pen, viz.: "On the Concretions frequently found in the Hollow of Bamboo Canes, named Tabasheer;" "A Chemical Analysis of some Calamines;" "Account of a Discovery of Native Minium;" "On the Composition and Crystallization of certain Sulphurets from Huel Boys in Cornwall;" "On the Composition of Zeolite;" "On a Substance procured from the Elm Tree, called Ulmine;" "On a Saline Substance from Mount Vesuvius;" and "Facts relative to the Coloring Matter of Vegetables." His papers subsequent

to 1818 were published in the "Annals of Philosophy," and other scientific periodicals. At his death he left about 200 manuscripts, which seem to have been intended to form portions of a philosophical dictionary. In minute chemical analysis he was equalled only by Dr. Wollaston. He was deeply interested in geological investigations, and in his travels in Great Britain and on the continent he everywhere observed and noted in his journal the evidences of geological structure, the mineral contents of rocks, and the superposition of beds, as well as the methods of mining, of smelting ore, and of conducting manufacturing processes. Three years before his death Mr. Smithson executed his will, in which, upon the occurrence of eertain contingencies, he bequeathed "the whole of his property to the United States of America to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." It is said that he purposed at one time to leave this fund to the royal society for the promotion of science, but changed his intention on account of a misunderstanding with the council of the society; but this never affected his relations with the eminent scientific men with whom he had been associated in the society. (See SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.)

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, an establishment in Washington, D. C., organized by act of congress in April, 1846, to carry into effect the provisions of the will of James Smithson. The condition on which the bequest was to take effect in favor of the United States having occurred in 1835, by the death of a nephew of the testator without issue, the American government was officially notified of its reversionary interest in the estate. The fact being communicated to congress, a joint committee reported recommending the acceptance of the trust. It was accordingly accepted, and the president authorized to send a commissioner to England to prosecute the claim. The Hon. Richard Rush was selected for this duty, and proceeded to London. Though obliged on technical grounds to resort to a process in chancery, every assistance was afforded him by the British government for a speedy decision, and at the end of 18 months he was able to declare his mission successfully terminated, and on Sept. 1, 1838, deposited in the U. S. mint the proceeds in English sovereigns, which yielded on recoinage $515,169. It yet remained to be settled in what way the comprehensive and liberal design could be most effectually carried out; and the president addressed a circular to eminent citizens of the country requesting their views as to the mode of dispos ing of the fund. Among the numerous sugges tions made was one by John Quincy Adams which partially formed the basis of subsequent action. He recommended the successive application of the interest of the fund, for a limited but sufficient term of years, first to one great purpose of scientific inquiry, and then to

another. He opposed the employment of the fund, as others had advised, for educational purposes, as wholly inconsistent with any just construction of the terms of the bequest, or with the design of the testator. He indicated as of primary importance for the application of its income, the establishment of a national observatory, which however was provided from national funds before the final action of congress in organizing the proposed institution. Others suggested the establishment of a botanical garden and experimental farm, a normal school or seminary for the education of teachers, and a national library of the most comprehensive character. For several sessions the conflicting plans proposed were discussed in congress, the money having been meantime lent to the U. S. government. At length, in April, 1846, an act in 11 sections was passed organizing the Smithsonian institution. The 1st section creates an "establishment" for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men, to consist of the president and vice-president of the United States, the several members of the cabinet, the chief justice of the supreme court, the commissioner of the patent office, and the mayor of Washington, during their respective terms of office, with such other persons as these may elect honorary members of the institution. The 2d declares the original fund to be lent in perpetuity to the treasury of the United States at 6 per cent.; appropriates the interest to July 1, 1846, amounting to $242,129, or so much thereof as might be necessary, for the erection of suitable buildings and other current incidental expenses; and provides that all expenditures and appropriations shall in future be made exclusively from the accruing interest and not from the principal of the fund. By the 3d section a board of managers is constituted, under the name of "Regents of the Smithsonian Institution," to be composed of the vice-president of the United States, the chief justice, the mayor of Washington, 3 members of the senate and 3 of the house of representatives, to be selected by the president and speaker thereof, with 6 other persons not members of congress, of whom 2 shall be resident in the city of Washington and the other 4 inhabitants of the United States, but no 2 of the same state. This board is required to elect one of its members as presiding officer, to be styled the chancellor of the institution, and also a suitable person to act as secretary both of the institution and the board. To this body is assigned the duty of a general superintendence, and of making an annual report to congress on the operations, expenditures, and condition of the institution. By the 4th, 5th, and 6th sections a location is assigned and power given for "the erection of a suitable building of sufficient size, with apartments for the reception and arrangement upon a liberal scale of objects of natural history, including a geological and mineralogical cabinet; also a chemical laboratory, a library, a gallery of art, and

the necessary lecture rooms;" and provision is made that all objects of art, natural history, &c., belonging to the United States, with such as may be collected from whatever source by the institution itself, shall be deposited in the building in such order and so classed as best to facilitate the examination and study of them. The 7th section devolves on the secretary the charge of the building and property, the duties of librarian and keeper of the museum, with the power of employing assistants, subject to the approval and removable at the discretion of the regents. Section 8 defines the visitorial relations of the members of the establishment toward the board of regents, and also limits the expenditure for the library. By the 9th section the managers are authorized to dispose of such portion of the interest of the fund as the act has not otherwise appropriated, in such manner as they shall deem best suited for the promotion of the purpose of the testator. Section 10 provides for the delivery to the librarian of a copy of every publication secured by copyright; a provision since repealed, at the instance of the regents, as producing an accumulation of matter foreign to the objects of the trust. The 11th section gives congress the power of altering, adding to, or repealing any of the provisions of the act.The entire cost of the building, improvement of the grounds, &c., was about $325,000; but by spreading over several years the expense of completing the less important details, and by the aid afforded by congress in the care of the grounds, and in eventually relieving the institution of the indiscriminate custody of the national collections of natural history, the board were able to save $140,000 of the accrued interest to add to the fund, which thus amounted to $655,000. The burdens imposed on the comparatively small net annual income of less than $40,000 by the act of organization were very heavy; but by a careful administration of its affairs, and the recognition of their just relations to each other, the objects specified have received a fair share of attention. A library has been collected, which, though smaller than many others, is yet, from its collection of foreign works and the transactions of learned societies, unequalled in this country as a resource for scientific reference; the museum, enriched by the fruits of governmental expeditions and the contributions of individual explorers under the direction of the institution, has attained a magnitude and completeness seldom surpassed in collections for the illustration of natural science; a commencement of a gallery of art has been made; and lectures, chiefly on scientific subjects, have been delivered every season to large audiences from every part of the country. Beside this, availing themselves of the sanction of the 9th section, the regents have inaugurated a system of scientific researches and publications which has proved an efficient instrumentality for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.' The board

of regents at an early session after their appointment selected Prof. Joseph Henry, then of Princeton college, N. J., as their secretary, an office which he still holds. His assistants are Prof. Spencer F. Baird, formerly of Dickinson college, Carlisle, Penn., in the natural history department, and William J. Rhees in the library department. The board of regents from its composition has necessarily changed with almost every year, and of its original members only the chancellor, Chief Justice Taney, the Hon. James A. Pearce of the U. S. senate, Prof. A. D. Bache of the U. S. coast survey, and Gen. Totten of the U. S. engineers, remain. Of the 6 non-official members, only President Felton of Cambridge, Mass., has been connected with it for more than the present year. Soon after his appointment, Prof. Henry submitted to the board a "programme of organization" of the proposed operations under the 9th section, which was adopted, and still constitutes the basis of management of that department of the institution. For the increase of knowledge, he suggested that men of talent and erudition should be afforded the means of conducting researches, and stimulated to exertion through the facilities of publication and occasional compensation; and for its diffusion, the publication of such works as, while adding materially to the sum of human knowledge, would not find a remunerative sale in the ordinary channels of trade. He insisted that it ought to be a rule of the institution to do nothing which can be equally well done by any organization or instrumentality already in action. The results attained in this department of the institution are as follows: 1. Researches. The claims of different classes of scientific research to the countenance and aid of the institution have always been pressing and difficult of adjudication; yet a preference has been given to those of widest influence and benefit to the race. Ethnology was believed to be one of these, and a valuable and expensive memoir on the archæology of the Indian tribes was the first to receive assistance. In connection with this, researches in comparative philology were regarded as important, and therefore aid was extended to the compilation of a Dacotah grammar and dictionary, and a grammar of the Yoruba language. The circulation of these has led to other researches in those sciences, some of which are receiving or will receive assistance. Astronomy has also engaged the earnest and continued efforts of the institution for its promotion theoretically and practically. For this purpose it afforded important aid in the determination of the true orbit and perturbations of Neptune, and published an ephemeris of that planet, which was accepted by astronomers as the only certain guide to its position; and has furnished pecuniary assistance to expeditions undertaken with the view in a great er or less degree to astronomical observations, as those of Drs. Kane and Hayes, of Lieut. Gilliss to Chili in 1858, and of Prof. Alexander,

under the direction of Prof. Bache of the U. S. coast survey, to Labrador in 1860. It has not only furnished instruments for physical observation to all these expeditions, but in most cases has defrayed the expense of the reduction and publication of the results. In meteorology and terrestrial magnetism it has more than 500 regular observers scattered over every part of the continent, and is rapidly accumulating data through this and other measures steadily and systematically pursued for developing the fixed laws which govern the apparently inconstant phenomena of nature. The natural history, geography, climatology, geology, mineralogy, botany, and archæology of this continent have through its aid received a greater impulse, and more material has been collected for increasing and diffusing the knowledge of them among mankind, than through all other instrumentalities during the national existence. 2. Publications. These are of 3 classes. 1st. "The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge," comprised up to the present time (1862) in 13 4to. volumes of large size, and in many cases expensively illustrated. It is one of the rules of the institution that no memoir shall be admitted into this series which rests on unverified hypothesis, or which does not offer some positive addition to the sum of existing knowledge; and the pretensions of each in this respect are decided by previous submission to the judgment of two or more arbiters of unquestionable competence and impartiality. The volumes thus far issued form a series for the publication of which no learned society in this country possessed the means, and which have only been equalled by foreign societies when aided by their governments. They have been distributed gratuitously among all the important libraries and learned associations of the world, and have afforded the means of obtaining by literary exchange those invaluable sets of the "Transactions" of foreign learned societies, not otherwise to be found in this country. 2d. The "Annual Reports" to the regents, which, beside a popular analysis of the memoirs to be contained in the several forthcoming volumes of the "Contributions," are accompanied by a synopsis of lectures and original or translated articles which introduce the student to information and topics of discussion much above the range of those usually presented even to the educated public. These are printed at the expense of congress, and are circulated through the members of both houses, as well as by the institution itself. 3d. The "Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections," an occasional series comprising meteorological and physical tables, treatises on subjects of practical or scientific interest, and manuals for the collection and preservation of objects of natural history, as well as methods for various physical observations. 3. Exchanges. The institution now acts as the principal, and is gradually becoming the exclusive, means of communication between the literary and scientific

associations of the old and the new world. Our own and other governments in which these exchanges are made exempt the material which it transmits from duty, and most of the railroad and steamboat lines transport it free from cost. This, though it imposes a vast amount of labor upon the employees of the institution, is productive of so many and such evident benefits to all who send or receive the documents thus transmitted, that it will be maintained. 4. Scientific Correspondence. The correspondence of the Smithsonian institution with all quarters of the globe is vast and constantly increasing. Almost every day brings narratives of real or supposed discoveries which are referred to the institution, inquiries on scientific topics of all kinds, or unusual phenomena, &c. These letters are all answered either by the officers of the institution or by some of their collaborators to whose special department of study the inquiries may pertain. -The museum and library have both been organized as harmonious parts of the same general system, being mainly confined to such objects and publications as are best adapted to promote the special aims of the institution.

SMOKE, the cloud of light carbonaceous particles which rises from fires in which the combustion is incomplete, owing to the escape of the elements of the fuel before they are exposed to the high temperature and access of air required for their thorough combustion. (See CHIMNEY, COMBUSTION, FLAME, and FUEL.) Smoke escapes most freely from those carbonaceous bodies which burn with great rapidity, as the hydrocarbons and the bituminous coals, and appears to result from the decomposition of the vapors or gases that are sent forth from these, a portion of the carbon thus set free, not meeting at once its atoms of oxygen and escaping further action of the fire and air, passing off in sooty flakes. This principle of combustion is explained in the article GAs, vol. viii. p. 102. Those fuels which consist chiefly of fixed carbon, as anthracite and the coke of bituminous coal, evolve no smoke, for the first movement of the carbon into the air is when it combines with oxygen to form the invisible carbonic acid or carbonic oxide from which it is not again set free. In most processes of combustion, whether the object be the production of heat or light, the formation of smoke should be guarded against as involving both a nuisance and a loss of fuel. Thus the argand burner and the glass chimneys of lamps are designed, by producing a proper draught of air and its intermixture with the products of combustion, to render this complete, and cause all the carbonaceous particles to combine with oxygen, in which condition they disappear in a gaseous form. Otherwise, after being carried up with the heated column, the sooty matters are floated about in the atmosphere, and finally settle down upon whatever substances they come in contact with. In large cities where bituminous coal is the common fuel, and consumed upon a

great scale for steam engines and manufacturing purposes, clouds of smoke fill the atmosphere and penetrate the houses, diffusing everywhere the unpleasant bituminous odor, lessening the quantity and duration of the light of day, and depositing flakes of soot upon the furniture, pictures, books, and clothing of the inmates. In Pittsburg the evil has become so great, that white articles of external dress are almost discarded in consequence of their becoming immediately soiled. In England the nuisance was considered so great in the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the dyers, brewers, smiths, &c., were but just beginning to use "pit coal," that attempts were made to prohibit its consumption in London by legislative action. (See COAL.) Since that time the magnitude of the nuisance has increased enormously, and numerous attempts have been made to mitigate it by improving the methods of combustion, and compelling manufacturers to adopt these or the use of smokeless fuels. Thus coke has been brought into very extensive use in the cities and upon the railroads of Great Britain in the place of raw bituminous coal, and various ingenious plans have been devised for conducting the combustion of raw coal without the production of smoke. Some of these plans are both efficient and economical by the saving of fuel they effect, but their adoption has been greatly opposed by manufacturers, on account of involving modifications of their apparatus already in use, and being dependent to some extent upon more judicious care of the workmen who have charge of feeding the fires. The attempts at improvement have been directed to one of two objects, either to prevent the production of smoke by effecting complete combustion in the furnace, or to consume the smoke after it is evolved from one fire by passing it through another supported by a smokeless fuel. It is observed that the great mass of smoke is sent forth from fuel freshly thrown on the fire, and that it diminishes as the fire becomes hot. This is not altogether owing to the elements of the smoke being gradually exhausted, but rather to the sudden evolution of great quantities of gaseous matter from the large amount of surface of fresh fuel, and the mechanical sweeping off of the carbon liberated from this before it could be fairly exposed to the further action of the heat and air. This suggests that the fuel should be added gradually, and that it should be spread over the front portion of the grates, so that the smoke shall have to pass over the fire behind and thus be consumed as it mixes with the excess of air carried along with it. Several of the methods of preventing the smoke nuisance are based on this principle, and mechanical arrangements have been contrived for introducing the fuel into the large fires for steam engines and manufacturing operations in a continuous and uniform manner. The admission of sufficient air is of course effectually provided for, and in some of the arrangements this is first heated and distributed by numerous