tion exclusive of my duties to the College, was devoted to original
scientific investigations, and I left to others what I considered in
a scientific view of subordinate importance--the application of my
discoveries to useful purposes in the arts. Besides this I partook of
the feeling common to men of science, which disinclines them to secure
to themselves the advantages of their discoveries by a patent."

Then, too, his talents were soon turned to a wider field. The bequest of
James Smithson, that farsighted Englishman, who left his fortune to the
United States to found "the Smithsonian Institution, for the increase
and diffusion of knowledge among men," was responsible for the diffusion
of Henry's activities. The Smithsonian Institution was founded at
Washington in 1846, and Henry was fittingly chosen its Secretary, that
is, its chief executive officer. And from that time until his death in
1878, over thirty years, he devoted himself to science in general.

He studied terrestrial magnetism and building materials. He reduced
meteorology to a science, collecting reports by telegraph, made the
first weather map, and issued forecasts of the weather based upon
definite knowledge rather than upon signs. He became a member of the
Lighthouse Board in 1852 and was the head after 1871. The excellence of
marine illuminants and fog signals today is largely due to his efforts.
Though he was later drawn into a controversy with Morse over the credit
for the invention of the telegraph, he used his influence to procure
the renewal of Morse's patent. He listened with attention to Alexander
Graham Bell, who had the idea that electric wires might be made to carry
the human voice, and encouraged him to proceed with his experiments.
"He said," Bell writes, "that he thought it was the germ of a great
invention and advised me to work at it without publishing. I said that
I recognized the fact that there were mechanical difficulties in the way
that rendered the plan impracticable at the present time. I added that
I felt that I had not the electrical knowledge necessary to overcome the
difficulties. His laconic answer was, 'GET IT!' I cannot tell you how
much these two words have encouraged me."

Henry had blazed the way for others to work out the principles of the
electric motor, and a few experimenters attempted to follow his lead.
Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith of Brandon, Vermont, built an electric
car in 1835, which he was able to drive