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SMELT

1709

SMITH

the nasal caYity, and if the odor is to be noticed there must be a passage of air through the nose and the membrane must be moist. If one stops breathing, odors can not be noticed. The delicacy of this sense is remarkable; for one thirty-three-millionth of a grain of musk can be detected. When an odor acts on a nerve of smell, it first stimulates it; but if the influence continues long, the stimulus ceases and the nerve ceases to distinguish the smell. The strength or sensitiveness of the sense of smell varies with different animals. In some animals, as the dog, it is wonderfully developed, but in man it often demands confirmation from other senses. Flesh-eating animals are more sensitive to the odor of other animals than are animals that live on vegetation; and these are more sensitive than those to the odor of plants. Only gaseous or vaporous odors are recognized. Some people are so sensitive to odors that roses, new-mown hay or goldenrod inflames the passages of the throat, nose and eyes, causing rose-fever or hay-fever.

Smelt, a small fish closely related to the salmon, but usually placed in a distinct family. On the American Atlantic coast two species, one more northern than the other, extend from the Arctic to Virginia. They are each about 12 inches long and silvery in color. When fresh, they have an odor resembling cucumbers and are highly prized as food. Other similar forms occur in Europe and along the Pacific coast of the United States.

Smiles, Samuel, a Scottish writer, was born at Haddington in 1812. He studied medicine at Edinburgh and practiced at Haddington and at Leeds, finally becoming editor of the Leeds Times. Here he met George Stephenson, which led to writing his life in 1857. His book, Self-Help, followed, and at once was a success, which has continued, the sales reaching 150,000 copies and the translations being made in 17 languages. Some of his other works are Character, Thrift, Duty, Lives of the Engineers, Men of Invention, The Huguenots in France, The Huguenots in England and Industrial Biography. He died at London on April

i7» 1904.

Smith, Adam, a Scottish philosopher, was born at Kirkcaldy in Fifeshire, on June 5, 1723. He studied at Glasgow and at Oxford, and was made professor in the University of Glasgow. He published his Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759 and, later, a Dissertation on the Origin of Languages, both of which had great vogue in their day. But the work which gives him his reputation and makes him the founder of the science of political economy was his In-

firy into   the  Nature  and  Causes  of  the ealth of Nations, published in 1776. Its clear style, startling doctrines and curious facts made it popular at first; but, when

it was seen how contrary its principles were to the old ideas of things, it was vigorously opposed. After the French Revolution and the excitement attending it had passed by, the book became the leader of a great host of literary works based upon it. Smith became lord-rector of Glasgow university in 1787, and died at Edinburgh, July 7.7, 1790. Consult Farrer's Life in the English Philosophers Series and Haldane's in the Great Writers Series.

Smith College, at Northampton, Mass., was founded in 1871 by Miss Sophia Smith, of Hatfield, Mass., who donated about $365,000 for the purpose. It is a college for women, providing courses of study and facilities for education equal to those which are afforded in the best colleges for young men. It stands in the first rank among colleges for women. It has *a faculty of 102 and an attendance of 1,477 students, with a library of 7,000 volumes,

Smith, Edmund Kirby, a Confederate general, was born at St. Augustine, Fla., in 1824. He was professor at West Point and a major in the United States army. in the Confederate service he became lieutenant-general in 1862 and general in 1864. He was made commander of the trans-Mississippi department in 1863, and so managed it as to make it self-supporting. He invested Cincinnati in the autumn of 1863, but withdrew when the veterans under Sigel entered (the city. At the close of the war his forces were the last to surrender. He was president of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company from 1866 to 1868, chancellor of the University of Nashville from 1870 to 1875, and afterwards professor in the University of the South at Suwanee, Tenn» He died there on March 28, 1893.

Smith, Francis Hopkinson, American artist and author, was born at Baltimore, Md., Oct. 23, 1838, and as a youth studied, and for some years was actively engaged in, mechanical engineering. In the latter capacity he performed considerable work under contract for the Unitecl States government. He has, however, made his chiei reputation as a water-color painter, among his more notable pictures being In Darlinh Wood, In the North Woods and A January Thaw. In literature he has also achieved a reputation, as well as an illustrator. Among his works are Old Lines in New Black and White; A White Umbrella in Mexico; Colonel Carter of Cartersville; American Illustrators; Venice; Gondola Days; and many more.

Smith, Gold'win, an English scholar and writer, was born at Reading, Aug, 13, 1823. He studied at Eton and Oxford and was elected a fellow of University College. From 1858 to 1866 he was professor of history at Oxford. During the Civil War in the United States he wrote pamphlets in support of