18G JAMES SMITHSON AND HIS BEQUEST. 



knowledge — its spread, communication, dissemination. Of the various 

 instrumentalities for carrying out this noble and imposing scheme, he 

 considered as the simplest and most efficient the collection for public 

 use of a library, a museum, and a gallery of art, and he preferred that 

 for a reasonable period the entire income of the fund should be expended 

 in this way. While appreciating the value of research and experiment 

 in natural knowledge and the economic arts, and including them in the 

 plan of a great national institution for the promotion of all good learn- 

 ing, he dissented from the doctrine implied by the bill, which coiraned 

 all knowledge, all science, to the numerical and quantitative values of 

 material things. 



" Geology, mineralogy, even chemistry, are but assemblages of appar- 

 ent facts, empirically established, and this would always be true of every 

 study which rests upon observation and experiment alone. True science 

 is the classification and arrangement of necessary primary truths accord- 

 ing to their relations with each other and in reference to the logical de- 

 ductions which may be made from them. Such science, the only abso- 

 lute knowledge, is the highest and worthiest object of human inquiry, 

 and must be drawn from deeper sources than the crucible and the re- 

 tort. A laboratory is a charnel-house ; chemical decomposition begins 

 with death, and experiments are but the dry bones of science. It is the 

 thoughtful meditation alone of minds trained and disciplined in far other 

 halls that can clothe these with flesh and blood and sinews, and breathe 

 into them the breath of life." 



Mr. Marsh then showed the importance and value of a great library, 

 and gave illustrations from his extensive knowledge of the libraries in 

 Europe. 



Mr. Isaac E. Morse, of Louisiana, was of the opinion that Smithson 

 Mas a practical man, and that, although possessed of the highest learn- 

 ing, he condescended to devote his time to subjects of the most domes- 

 tic and homely character. If his intention had been to establish a .uni- 

 versity or a magnificent library, and thus to have his name transmitted 

 to posterity, it would have been easy for him to have said so, and noth- 

 ing would have been left to this country but to carry out his enlightened 

 and liberal intentions. But he had no doubt studied the peculiar char- 

 acter of the American people, and discovered that while they enter- 

 tained a proper respect for the learning and genius of the German uni- 

 versities and of the sciences taught in the schools of Europe, still there 

 was something in the common sense and practical knowledge of our 

 people which comported with his own notions; and he desired that his 

 money should be devoted to diffusing practical and useful knowledge 

 among them. Mr. Morse then introduced a new bill as a substitute 

 for thai under discussion, providing mainly that "an offer be made 

 through the newspapers of the United States and Europe of suitable 

 rewards or prizes for the best written essay on ten subjects, the most 

 practical and useful of which should be priuted and widely distributed/' 



