CHAPTER XII

CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS


This is the age of munificent benefactions in aid of science and
learning. The Rhodes scholarships, Mr. Carnegie's free libraries and
educational endowments, the Duc d'Aumale's gift to the French Academy
of his fine _chatteau_ at Chantilly, with its magnificent historical
and art collections; many institutions founded in the United States
and elsewhere by multi-millionaires for the advancement of knowledge,
are a sign of the times. They foreshadow the abolishment of pauperism
and its attendant charities to give place to beneficent institutions,
and Norway and Sweden are abreast with other countries in this
movement. Apart from charitable institutions and endowments for the
maintenance of hospitals and asylums, of universities, scholarships
and fellowships, which the generosity of former generations has
secured, the present generation has seen noble donations made by
private men for more special objects, having the general advancement
of knowledge in view, such as the encouragement of scientific research
and the support of voyages of geographical exploration. Nordenskiöld's
Arctic voyages, his and Palander's navigation through the polar
northeast passage in the _Vega_, Nathort's exploration of King Carl's
Land, the Swedish expedition to the Antarctic regions under Otto
Nordenskiöld, which has lately returned after two years' adventurous
exploration in Graham Land and the discovery of King Oscar Land, Sven