PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION 



OF THE 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



[PRESENTED IN THE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, AND 

 ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF REGENTS, DECEMBER 13, 1847.] 



INTEODUCTION. 



General considerations ivhich should serve as a guide in adopting a 

 Plan of Organization. 



1. Will op Smithson. The property is bequeathed to the United 

 States of America, " to found at Washington, under the name of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffu- 

 sion of knowledge among men." 



2. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind. The government of 

 the United States is merely a trustee to carry out the design of the 

 testator. 



3. The Institution is not a national establishment, as is frequently 

 supposed, but the establishment of an individual, and is to bear and 

 perpetuate his name. 



4. The objects of the Institution are, 1st, to increase, and 2d, to 

 diffuse knowledge among men. 



5. These two objects should not be confounded with one another. 

 The first is to enlarge the existing stock of knowledge by the addi- 

 tion of new truths ; and the second, to disseminate knowledge, thus 

 increased, among men. 



(i. The will makes no restriction in lavor of any particular kind of 

 knowledge ; hence all branches are entitled to a share of attention. 



7. Knowledge can be increased by different methods of facilitating 

 and promoting the discovery of new truths ; and can be most exten- 

 sively diffused among men by means of the press. 



8. To effect the greatest amount of good, the organization should 

 be such as to enable the Institution to produce results, in the way of 

 increasing and diffusing knowledge, which cannot be produced either 

 at all or so efficiently by the existing institutions in our country. 



9. The organization should also be such as can be adopted provi- 

 sionally, can be easily reduced to practice, receive modifications, or be 

 abandoned, in whole or in part, without a sacrifice of the funds. 



10. In order to compensate, in some measure, for the loss of time 

 occasioned by the delay of eight years in establishing the iDstitution, 



