are regarded from too high a point of view to allow us to hesitate in placing in the first rank of the labors with which they are adorned those which diffuse comfort, health, and happiness amidst the working population."

In another of his papers Smithson says, referring to practical investigations:

"In all cases means of economy tend to augment and diffuse comfort and happiness. They bring within the reach of the many what wasteful proceeding confines to the few. By diminishing expenditure on one article they allow of some other enjoyment which was before unattaina

A reduction in quantity permits an indulgence in superior quality. In the present instance the importance of economy is particularly great since it is applied to matters of high price, which constitute one of the daily meals of a large portion of the population of the earth."

"That in cookery also the power of subjecting for an indefinite duration to a boiling heat, without the slightest dependiture of volatile matter, will admit of a beneficial application, is unquestionable."*

In the books of his library are found numerous marginal notes, indicating his special attention to subjects relating to the health, comfort, resources, and happiness of the people.

Among his effects were several hundred manuscripts and a great number of notes or scraps on a variety of subjects, including history, the arts, language, rural pursuits, &c. On the subject of "habitations" were articles classified under the several heads of situation, exposure, exterior and interior arrangements, building materials, contents and adornment of rooms, furniture, pictures, statuary, &c. It is not improbable that he contemplated the preparation of a cyclopedia or philosophical dictionary.

Smithson's contributions to scientific literature consist of twenty-seven papers, eight published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, in the years 1791, 1802, 1806, 1808, 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1817, and nineteen in Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, a journal of the highest scientific character, in 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, and 1825. These papers have recently been collected and reprinted by the Smithsonian Institution. Several of them were previously republished in foreign scientific journals translated by himself.

It is highly probable that Smithson contributed articles to scientific and literary journals other than those mentioned, but they have not yet been discovered.

* An improved method of making coffee. Smithsonian Miscell. Coll., No. 327, p. 88. + Smithsonian Miscell. Coll., No. 327, 1879, 8 vo., 166 pp.

The following is a list of his scientific writings:

[In the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.]

1791. An account of some chemical experiments on Tabasheer, vol. lxxxi, pt. II, p. 368.

1802. A chemical analysis of some Calamines, vol. xciii, p. 12.

1806. Account of a discovery of native minium, vol. xcvi, pt. I, p. 267. 1807. On quadruple and binary compounds, particularly sulphurets, [Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxix, p. 275.]

1808. On the composition of the compound sulphuret from Huel Boys, and an account of its crystals, vol. xcviii, p. 55.

1811. On the composition of zeolite, vol. ci, p. 171.

1813. On a substance from the elm tree, called ulmin, vol. ciii, p. 64. 1813. On a saline substance from Mount Vesuvius, vol. ciii, p. 256. 1817. A few facts relative to the coloring matter of some vegetables, vol. cviii., p. 110.

[In Thomson's Annals of Philosophy.]

1819. On a native compound of sulphuret of lead and arsenic, vol. xiv, p. 96.

1819. On native hydrous aluminate of lead, or plomb gomme, vol. xiv, p. 31.

1820. On a fibrous metallic copper, vol. xvi, p. 46.

1820. An account of a native combination of sulphate of barium and fluoride of calcium, vol. xvi, p. 48.

1821. On some capillary metallic tin, vol. xvii. New series, vol. I, p. 271. 1822. On the detection of very minute quantities of arsenic and mercury, vol. xx. New series, vol. iv, p. 127. 1822. Some improvements of lamps, vol. xx. New series, vol. iv, p. 363. 1823. On the crystalline form of ice, vol. xxi. New series, vol. v, p. 340. 1823. A means of discrimination between the sulphates of barium and strontium, vol. xxi. New series, vol. v, p. 359.

1823. On the discovery of acids in mineral substances, vol. xxi. New series, vol. v, p. 384.

1823. An improved method of making coffee, vol. xxii. New series, vol. vi, p. 30.

1823. A discovery of chloride of potassium in the earth, vol. xxii. New series, vol. vi, p. 258.

1823. A method of fixing particles on the sappare, vol. xxii. New series, vol. vi, p. 412.

1824. On some compounds of fluorine, vol. xxiii. New series, vol. vii, p. 100.

1824. An examination of some Egyptian colors, vol. xxiii. New series, vol. vii, p. 115.

1824. Some observations on Mr. Penn's theory concerning the formation of the Kirkdale Cave, vol. xxiv. New series, vol. viii, p. 50.