PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION. 9 



to be given to the public tlirougli the annual report of the Eegeuts to 

 Congress. 



II. By appropriating a part of the income, annuaUi/j to special objects 

 of research, under the direction of suitable persons. 



1. The objects aud the amount appropriated, to be recommended by 

 counsellors of the Institution. 



L*. Appropriations in different years to different objects; so that in 

 course of time each branch of knowledge may receive a share. 



3. The results obtained from these appropriations to be published, 

 ■with the memoirs before mentioned, in the Volumes of the Smithsonian 

 Contributions to Knowledge. 



4. Examples of objects for which appropriations may be made. 



(1.) System of extended meteorological observations for solving the 

 problem of American storms. 



(2.) Explorations in descriptive natural history, and geological, mag- 

 netical, and topographical surveys, to collect materials for the formation 

 of a Physical Atlas of the United States. 



(3.) Solution of experimental problems, such as a new determina- 

 tion of the weight of the earth, of the velocity of electricity, and of 

 light; chemical analyses of soils and plants; collection and publication 

 of scientific facts accumulated in the offices of government. 



(4.) Institution of statistical inquiries with reference to phj'sical, 

 moral, and political subjects. 



(5.) Historical researches, and accurate surveys of places celebrated 

 in American history. 



(G.) Ethnological researches, particularly with reference to the dif- 

 ferent races of men in North America ; also, explorations and accurate 

 surveys of the mounds and other remains of the ancient people of our 

 country. 



DETAILS OF THE PLAN FOR DIFFUSING KNOWLEDGE. 



I. By the puMication of a series of reports, giving an account of the new 

 discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all 

 brandies of knowledge not strictly professional. 



1. These reports will diffuse a kind of knowledge generally interest- 

 ing, but which, at present, is inaccessible to the public. Some of the 

 reports may be i^ublished annually, others at longer intervals, as the 

 income of the Institution or the changes in the branches of knowledge 

 may indicate. 



2. The reports are to be prepared by collaborators eminent in the dif- 

 ferent branches of knowledge. 



3. Each collaborator to be furnished with the journals and publica- 

 tions, domestic and foreign, necessary to the compilation of his report ; 

 to be paid a certain sum for his labors, and to be named on the title- 

 page of the report. 



4. The reports to be published in separate parts, so that persons inter- 

 ested in a particular branch can procure the parts relating to it without 

 purchasing the whole. 



5. These reports may be presented to Congress, for partial distribu- 

 tion, the remniuing copies to be given to literary and scientific institu- 

 tions, and sold to individuals for a moderate price. 



The following are some of the subjects which may be embraced in the 

 reports :* 



"This part of the pluu has beeu but partially carried out. 



