THE PAPERS OF JOSEPH HENRY
Table of Contents, Volume 8,
The Smithsonian Years: January 1850-December 1853
January-March 1850
Danger to Smithsonian in attempting too much--Bulletin to Alexander Dallas Bache:
"repugnant" letter from John Locke, Andrew Johnson's attitude toward the Smithsonian (Doc.
4)--Visit to President Taylor--On use of scientist--Building collapse--Fatal fall of workman;
Henry on his duties as secretary; success of lecture series; criticism of Smithsonian
Building--Testimony in telegraph case--Death of John C. Calhoun.
April-June 1850
John Torrey warns of Louis Agassiz's "erroneous doctrines" (Doc. 22)--Charles Babbage on
tree-ring analysis--Role of Smithsonian assistants--On optical Doppler effect--Samuel F. B.
Morse's role in development of telegraph--Morse accuses Henry of "contemptuous arrogance"
(Doc. 30)--Crystal Palace Exhibition--Elections in District of Columbia and progress in
construction of the Smithsonian Building--Bache lambastes American Journal of
Science.
July-September 1850
Building difficulties resolved--Spencer F. Baird appointed assistant secretary--To Bache: "I
think the Institution will soon be fairly afloat" (Doc. 46)--Sudden death of President
Taylor--Assistant Secretary Charles Coffin Jewett on Baird's appointment: "Prof. H. will not be
continually suspicious & jealous of him as he has been of me" (Doc. 49)--Jewett's stereotyped
library catalog and cataloging rules--Address to the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (Doc. 54)--Smithsonian publication policy--Storm warnings by telegraph.
October-December 1850
Introduction of William Jones Rhees--Complaint about Crystal Palace Exhibition--
Memorandum on improvement of the Mall--Consultations with Andrew Jackson
Downing--Proposal for system of international exchange of scientific publications--Mediating
dispute between Matthew Fontaine Maury and Bache--Edward Sabine on cooperation in meteorology.
January-March 1851
Relation between weather and disease--Lack of federal funding for Crystal Palace
Exhibition--Asa Gray from England on Smithsonian matters--Report to George Perkins Marsh
on Smithsonian affairs--Recommendation of Downing to President Millard Fillmore--Request
for duty-free entry of publications into England--Expansion of Smithsonian meteorological
network.
April-June 1851
George Robins Gliddon ridicules Henry and Smithsonian--Locke on his "offensive letter" to
Henry (Doc. 106)--Collaboration with American Antiquarian Society--Intervention of President
Fillmore on behalf of Downing--Death of James Henry--Arrangements with American
Antiquarian Society about Increase A. Lapham's memoir--Experiments with Foucault
pendulum--Report on Downing's progress.
July-September 1851
Defending Downing--James P. Espy's plan for producing rain--American exhibits at Crystal
Palace Exhibition--Experiments on cohesion and on conduction of sound--Request for Henry's
opinion of Foucault pendulum--Science instruction at United States Naval Academy--Remarks
on Egyptian artifacts--Bulletin to Bache: distressing support among scientists for Henry M.
Paine, AAAS "becoming powerful for good or evil" (Doc. 138)--Honorary doctorate from
Harvard--Inquiry about 1839 letter to Morse--From Sabine on meteorological cooperation and
international exchange.
October-December 1851
"I am constantly called upon to decide upon, not what ought to be given, but what can be"
(Doc. 148)--From Bache in Maine: regret at Jefferson Davis's resignation from Senate, strategy
concerning national academy of science, dispute with Maury over Gulf Stream, evaluation of
Robert Hare--Bulletin to Bache: difficulties with Hare's donation of apparatus, progress on
Mall improvements and Smithsonian publications--Appointment to commission to test marble
for the Capitol Building--Letter to Marsh: response to Stephen A. Douglas's criticism of
Smithsonian, Downing's improvements on Mall, speculations on presidential election--To
Dorothea Dix on challenges of being secretary--Henry's version of 1848 meeting with
Morse--Arrangements with Arnold Guyot concerning meteorological system.
January-March 1852
Danger from "internal disension" (Doc. 165)--Letter from disgruntled meteorological
observer--Maury's meteorological plans--Consultation with Bache on meteorology--Policy
toward misguided authors--Rumored resignation of James Carnahan, president of Princeton;
plan for national university in Albany--Support for Espy's appropriation--Letter from Downing:
"I will make the Capital `blossom like the rose'" (Doc. 175)--Mary E. Howard Schoolcraft's
complaints about Harriet Henry--Request of Babbage for information on James
Smithson--Request for army meteorological data--Sabine pledges Royal Society cooperation in
international exchange system--Experiments with Espy on heated air.
April-June 1852
Experiments with blowing machine--Smithson's effects--Experiments on galvanic light;
thoughts on crystallization--Proposal for analyzing light from comet--"Very important that I
keep clear of all connection with the patent office" (Doc. 193)--To Hare on his apparatus and
on Espy's meteorological theories--To Sabine on international exchange and
meteorology--Offer to mediate dispute between Charles Wilkes and Gray--On auroras and
shooting stars--Anguished letter from Leonard D. Gale--Strategy for mediating Wilkes-Gray
dispute--To Lewis R. Gibbes on Smithsonian lectures and publications, and scientific
instruments--Offer of chair of chemistry at medical department of University of
Pennsylvania--Gray's appreciation for Henry's "friendly intervention" (Doc. 215)--Bulletin to
Bache: public defense of Smithsonian program, commission to examine Robert Grant's light,
method of observing solar prominences, work on sunspots used by Angelo Secchi without
credit.
July-September 1852
Praise for Henry's defense of Smithsonian--Alonzo Potter's plans for University of
Pennsylvania--"The present is almost a crisis in the history of the Institution" (Doc.
223)--Resolution of Wilkes-Gray dispute--Bulletin to Bache: investigation of Grant's light,
Agassiz's complaints about Charles Girard, problems at Patent Office--Trip to New York to
examine Grant's light--Offer of chair of chemistry at the University of Virginia--Attempt to
resolve Agassiz-Girard dispute--Election as president of American Association for the
Advancement of Education--Election as president of Metropolitan Mechanics'
Institute--Appointment to the United States Light-House Board.
October-December 1852
Attacks on Smithsonian--Refereeing procedures--Democratic election victory--Observations on
winds--Publication of meteorological data--Arguments for federal support of Elisha Kent
Kane's Arctic expedition--Questions from meteorological observer--The Smithsonian as
"scientific adviser to the Government" (Doc. 253)--The Smithsonian's international exchange
system.
January-March 1853
On publication of foreign memoirs; argument for subordination of library and
museum--Request for naval cooperation in procuring and transporting specimens--George Ord
on museums--Geomagnetic observatory at Smithsonian--Letter from India.
April-June 1853
Request for Henry's opinion on "spirit rappings and table tippings" (Doc. 262)--"The
programme is too broad for our income" (Doc. 264)--To Gray: "The support of a large library
and an extensive museum is incompatible with the limited income of the institution" (Doc.
266)--Request for clarification of Henry's contributions to telegraph--Nomination as provost of
University of Pennsylvania--Complaint about "fantastic and almost useless building" (Doc.
272)--Report on acoustics, heating, and ventilation of Capitol Building.
July-September 1853
Gale on contradictions in telegraph testimony--Bulletin to Bache: Departure of Edward
Foreman and arrival of Rhees, rules for subordinates, progress of construction on Smithsonian
Building--Revised plan for Smithsonian Building--Trip to Cleveland for AAAS meeting--Visit
to Detroit and Chicago--Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's criticism of Henry and Smithsonian--AAAE
meeting in Pittsburgh--Disavowal of candidacy for presidency of Princeton--Solicitation of
James Hall's recollections of telegraph.
October-December 1853
Proposal for government purchase of Smithsonian Building--Reflections on presidency of
Princeton--Questions on aurora borealis--Offer of endowed professorship at Princeton--Hall on
Henry's early telegraph work--On spiritualism: "I am doomed to perpetual skepticism" (Doc.
299)--Request for navy appropriation for care of government specimens--Refereeing
problems--On oversight duties: "I am responsible for all blunders" (Doc. 303)--Appointment to
commission to examine marble for Capitol Building.
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