PROMOTION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 37 



Tobias Watkins on January 7, 1826 ; Samuel L. Southard, Secretary 

 of the Navy, on December 31, 1827 ; and Senator Edward Everett on 

 January 16, 1830. Two were memorials, one on the life and charac- 

 ter of Thomas Jefferson, by Samuel Harrison Smith, his close friend, 

 on January 6, 1827; the other on the life and character of John 

 Adams, by Judge William Cranch, on March 16, 1827. With the 

 exception of the discourse of Dr. Cutbush, none of these dealt spe- 

 cially with the objects and work of the Institute. Mr. Southard, 

 according to the diary of John Quincy Adams, spoke upon the obliga- 

 tion of the Government of the United States to patronize science. 

 " He maintained the cause with great zeal and ability, arguing it as 

 a duty resulting from our situation among the nations of the earth, 

 and recurring specially to the expressed opinions of Washington, 

 Jefferson and Madison." Mr. S. L. Knapp characterized Mr. Ever- 

 ett's address as a "splendid performance. Line upon line and pre- 

 cept upon precept are still wanted to rouse our Government to become 

 the patron of letters, the arts and sciences, and the friend to the 

 learned men of the country." 



Publications. — Though contemplating the issuance of a series of 

 transactions or proceedings, sufficient funds for this purpose were 

 never available, and the publications left by the Institute consist of 

 only a few isolated pieces, comprising, besides the six public addresses 

 noted above, a quarto pamphlet, printed in 1817, containing the pro- 

 ceedings in the organization of the Institute and the constitution; 

 the constitutional ordinance of 1820 ; one of the sets of standing rules; 

 a paper by Thomas Law on the national currency of the United 

 States; and a circular of instructions for collecting and preserving 

 specimens. Notices of the Institute and acknowledgments for dona- 

 tions were, in part at least, printed in the local papers. 



BOTANIC GARDEN. 



A botanical garden was among the projects considered by President 

 Washington for the Federal City, and its location was the subject of 

 correspondence between him and the Commissioners of the Federal 

 District. The latter, writing to Washington on October 1, 1796, 

 discussed 



the disposition of the public grounds in the city, and having already recom- 

 mended sites for the national university and mint, they add that the establish- 

 ment of a botanical garden has been lately suggested, and if the site proposed, 

 which is not named, does not meet with the president's approval that a portion 

 of the national university site can be devoted to that purpose. 1 



The President, replying on October 21, decided in favor of the 

 square bounded by Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth and E Streets, north- 



1 W. B. Bryan. A History of the National Capital, vol. 1, p. 276, 1914. 



