APPENDIX TO SECllETARY'S REPORT. 



Appendix I. 



PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



[Prcycuted in the First Aunual Keport of tlio Secretary, and adoi)ted by the Board of Kegouts, De- 

 cember 13, 1847.] 



IXTKODUCTiox. — General cousideratious \vluch should serve as a guide iu adopting a 

 plan of organization. 



1. Will of Smitlison. The i^roperty is bequeathed to the United states of America 

 " to found at Washington, under the uame of the Sniithsouian Institution, an estab- 

 lishment for the increase and diffusion 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(l) to increase, and (2) to diffuse knowledge 

 among men. 



5. These two object's should not be confounded with one another. Tbe first is to 

 enlarge the existing st^ick of knowledge by the addition of new trutiis; and the 

 second, U) dissominato knowledge, thus increased, among men. 



6. The will makes no restriction iu favor of any particular kind of knowledge; 

 hence all branches are entitled to a share of attention. 



7. Kuowlo<lge can be increased by different methods of facilitating and promoting 

 the discovery of new truths; andean be most extensively dilfused among men by 

 means of the press. 



8. To elfect the greatest amount of good, the organization should bo such as to 

 enable the Institution to produce results, in the way of increasing and diffusing 

 knowledge, which can not be luoduced either at all or so efficiently by the existing 

 institutions in our country. 



t). The organization should also be sucli as can be adopted provisionally, 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, iu some measure, for the loss of time occasioned by the 

 delay of eight years in establishing the Institution, a considerable portion of the in- 

 terest which has accrued should be added to the principal. 



11. In proportion to the w'ide field of knowledge to be cultivated, the funds are 

 small. Economy should therefore be consulted in the construction of the building; 

 and not only the first cost of the edifice should be considered, but also the continual 

 expense of keeping it iu rej)air, and of the support of the establishment necessarily 

 connected with it. There should afso bt; but few individuals pi-rmanently sui>j>orted 

 by the Institution. 



12. Tiic jdan and diniensitjns of the building should be deteiniiued by the plan of 

 the organization, and not the converse. 



95 



