JAMES SMITHSON AND HIS BEQUEST. 173 



LEGISLATION OF CONGRESS 



IX RELATION TO 



THE DISPOSITION OF THE BEQUEST. 



On the Gtk of December, 1838, President Van Bnren had the satis- 

 faction of announcing to Congress that the claim of the United States 

 to the legacy bequeathed to them by James Smithson had been fully 

 established, and that the fund had been received by the government. 

 He now urged the prompt adoption of a plan by which the intentions 

 of the testator might be full}" realized. For the purpose of obtaining 

 information which might facilitate the attainment of this object, he 

 applied, through the Secretary of State, to a number of persons " versed 

 in science and familiar with the subject of public education, for their 

 views as to the mode of disposing of the fund best calculated to meet 

 the intentions of Smithson, and be most beneficial to mankind." 



He communicated to Congress the replies received, of which th.Q fol- 

 lowing is a brief abstract. 



President Francis Wayland, of Brown University, proposed a univer- 

 sity of high grade to teach Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Oriental languages, 

 and a long list of other branches, including rhetoric, poetry, intellect- 

 ual philosophy, the law of nations, &c. 



Dr. Thomas Cooper, of South Carolina, also proposed a university, to 

 be opened only to graduates of other colleges, where the higher branches 

 of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, &c, should be taught, but Latin 

 and Greek, literature, medicine, and law excluded. 



Mr. Richard Rush proposed a, building, with grounds attached, suffi- 

 cient to reproduce seeds and plants for distribution; a press to print 

 lectures, &c. ; courses of lectures on the leading branches of physical 

 and moral science, and on government and public law; the salaries to be 

 ample enough to command the best men, and admit of the exclusive 

 devotion of their time to the studies and investigations of their posts; 

 the lectures, when delivered, to be the property of the institution for 

 publication. Mr. Rush also made the excellent suggestion that consuls 

 and other United States officers might greatly aid the institution by col- 

 lecting and .sending home useful information and valuable specimens 

 from abroad. 



Hon. John Quincy Adams expressed, in his reply, the opinion that no 

 part of the fund should be devoted "to the endowment of any school, 

 college, university, or ecclesiastical establishment"; and he proposed 

 to employ seven years' income of the fund in the establishment of an 

 astronomical observatory, with instruments and a small library. 



The subject of the Smithson bequest was referred in the House of 

 Representatives on the 10th December, 1838, to a special committee of 



