PROMOTION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 17 



The following is from the Washington Guide of William Elliot for 

 1826: 



Prom the liberal plan of the Institute, from its position at the seat of Govern- 

 ment, where many of the best informed men are annually collected from all 

 parts of this extended republic, and from the zealous interest which is mani- 

 fested in its prosperity by the most distinguished individuals in the nation, 

 the Institute must, in time, be of great utility and acquire a high reputation. 



S. L. Knapp (Ignatius Loyola Kobertson), author and member 

 of the Institute, wrote in 1830 that, 



It was founded upon a noble basis, to promote learning in all the various 

 branches of arts, sciences and letters. * * * After the bustle of politics is 

 over, it is to be hoped that the watchful eye of the scientific and literary part 

 of Congress will see the wants of the society, and that the liberal part will be 

 disposed to aid in giving it something annually to carry on their useful labors. 

 The members are most certainly laboring for the good of the community at 

 large, not for themselves, and, therefore, deserve encouragement. It has suffi- 

 cient talent among its members to do honor to the reputation of the country in 

 the literary and scientific world. 



To briefly summarize the objects of the Institute, we find that its 

 aims as expressed in the plan of the Metropolitan Society and the 

 constitution of 1816 were almost wholly utilitarian, and not the 

 advancement of knowledge for its own sake. The collection, culti- 

 vation and distribution of plants were proposed in the interest of 

 medicine, foods and the arts and industries, and as it was the living 

 plant that was sought, their care and growth required a botanic 

 garden, which was early acquired. Failure to make provision in the 

 beginning for an herbarium of dried plants may readily be accepted 

 as the reason for the organization in 1817 of the Washington Botani- 

 cal Society, an account of which is given elsewhere, but ultimately 

 such an herbarium became a feature of the museum of the Institute. 



The collection and examination of mineral productions, which 

 would naturally lead to the formation of a cabinet of such material, 

 were also, according to the explanatory address of Dr. Cutbush, to 

 be made with special reference to their industrial application. 



As to mineral waters, the intention seems to have been simply 

 to collect data regarding the mineral constituents, utility and location 

 of the various kinds, information mainly desirable in connection with 

 medicine, as was also the record of diseases which prevail during the 

 different seasons. 



On agricultural subjects, on the management of stock, their dis- 

 eases and the remedies, communications were to be invited. In the 

 sixth article are enumerated several important subjects without ex- 

 planation of how information regarding them was expected to be 

 obtained, namely, topography and statistics, the navigation of 

 streams, commerce, climatic conditions, land values, the state of the 



