Smithson
JAMES, an English philanthropist; natural son of Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland; born in England about 1765; was graduated at Oxford in 1786, and elected a member of the Royal Society in 1787. His first paper presented to the society in 1791 was "An Account of Some Chemical Experiments on Tabasheer," and was followed from time to time by others treating of the chemical analysis of minerals, etc. In 1835 his property, amounting to $508,318, came into the possession of the United States Government, having been bequeathed by him "for the purpose of founding an institution at Washington, D. C., to be called the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." He died in Genoa, Italy, June 27, 1829.