EEPOET 



OF 



PROFESSOR HENRY, SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



FOR 



1869. 



To the Board of Regents : 



Gentle^hen : The Institution intrusted to your guardiansliip by the 

 Congress of the United States, has, during the past year, continued its 

 operations in the line of increasing and diffusing knowledge with una- 

 bated energy. The sphere of its influence in this country and abroad 

 has from the first been constantly on the increase, and it is now not too 

 much to say that no institution founded by the liberality of a private 

 individual ever attained a wider or more favorable reputation. It is 

 true, its character is sometimes misunderstood, but this cannot be a 

 matter of surprise when we reflect that it differs in many particulars 

 from all other institutions, and that without an attentive perusal of the 

 annual reports, no adequate idea can be obtained of its varied field of 

 labor, or of what it has done and is doing to promote the special objects 

 denoted in the will of its founder. It is here sufficient to mention that, 

 besides adding to the sum of human knowledge by its own operations, 

 and connecting its name with the history of almost every branch of 

 science, it has become the general agent through which the intellectual 

 labors of the eastern and western hemispheres are brought into efficient 

 cooperation. The importance of its labors and the influence of the 

 international communication which it has established, can only be pro- 

 perly estimated by those who are acquainted with the distinctive char- 

 acteristics of modern civilization, and who realize the fact that it 

 mainly rests on the develoi)ment of a knowledge of the laws of nature 

 and the application of these laws to the uses of life. Science not only 

 gives man control over the physical elements, and thus tends to eman- 

 cipate him from the curse of brute labor, but also serves to widen the 

 domain of his intellectual activities and enlarge the sphere of his moral 

 sympathies. By an attentive perusal of the following report, I think it 

 will be admitted by all who are competent to form a proper opinion on 

 the subject, that what I have claimed for the Institution is not too 

 much, and that any departure from the general policy which has been 

 constantly pursued from the beginning, would be attended with unfortu- 

 nate consequences. 



Finances. — At the last session of the Board it was resolved that a 

 memorial be i)resented to Congress, setting forth the large expendi- 



