James Smithson never set foot in America. He was a British scientist who died in 1829 and left his fortune to a country he'd never visited, with one condition: found "an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Congress spent a decade arguing about what to do with the money before finally chartering the Smithsonian Institution in 1846. For generations it earned its nickname, "the nation's attic," a place where Americans went to see the Wright Flyer, the Star-Spangled Banner, and Lincoln's top hat. Today they can also see a sadomasochistic "crotch harness." Something has. . .
