PROMOTION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 3 



reason to believe that Congress would share in the general enthusiasm 

 and take the society under its patronage." In a memorial, the in- 

 dorsement of the museum work of the Institute was very cordial and 

 comprehensive, and very significant. The hopes of the promoters 

 of the Institute were, however, doomed to disappointment, as Con- 

 gress adjourned without making any provision for its needs. Meet- 

 ings ceased after the next annual meeting, though an effort was made 

 to revive the organization in 1847, and in 1855 it was brought into 

 existence for a time as a local scientific society. 



As Dr. Goode has justly said, "The influence of the National 

 Institute upon the history of science in the United States, and par- 

 ticularly in educating public opinion and the judgment of Congress 

 to an application of the proper means of disposing of the Smithson 

 legacy, can not well be overestimated. If the Smithsonian had 

 been organized before the National Institute had exerted its influ- 

 ence, it would have been a school, an observatory, or an agricul- 

 tural experiment station. In 1846, however, the country was pre- 

 pared to expect it to be a general agency for the advancement of sci- 

 entific interests of all kinds — as catholic, as unselfish, as universal 

 as the National Institute." 



In his paper, Dr. Goode also refers to an earlier Washington 

 society than the National Institute, but as he had only a copy of the 

 first presidential address, some of the treasurer's statements and a 

 few isolated memoranda, he could give but a brief and incomplete 

 account of its objects, and had practically no information regarding 

 its history and achievements. He concluded that the minutes and 

 other records of the society had been lost or destroyed, but, in fact, 

 the minutes and some additional papers are preserved in the Library 

 of Congress, and still other papers are in the possession of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. It is unfortunate that Dr. Goode did not have 

 access to these records which would have enabled him to complete the 

 early history of the movements for the advancement of science and 

 art and the establishment of a museum in the National Capital, and 

 would, undoubtedly, have led him to modify some of the conclusions 

 expressed in his " Genesis." The two societies were engaged in a 

 common cause, the dissolution of the first preceded by only three 

 years the organization of the second, and a part of the membership 

 passed from one to the other. The earlier society formed a museum 

 equally designed to be national, and still partly in existence. Both 

 societies found themselves dependent for their funds upon the dues 

 of members, though the former sought larger means from Congress, 

 through direct appropriation, the holding of a lottery or the sale 

 of public lots, while the National Institute was organized in the full 

 expectation of controlling and having use of the Smithson bequest. 



The Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences 

 was the first learned society established in Washington, its organiza- 



