THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 83 



toade. The building contains an apartment intended for a gnllery ol" 

 ^rt ; and some works of art, a valuable collection of engravings, have 

 been purchased. 



A lecture room has been finished, and for several 3^ears lectures have 

 been given at the expense of the Institution, on scientific and literary, 

 abstruse and popular subjects, the ndmission to which hns been free. 

 A library of 12,000 volumes and 8,000 pamphlets and parts of volumes 

 has been acquired by purchase, exchanges, and other means, containing 

 many rare and valuable works pertaining to all branches of knowledge, 

 such as are not to be found in general libraries, and are most highly 

 prized by men of science and research. 



This is a very good beginning according to the plan lor the gradual 

 formation of a library, which the act points out. 



Of the entire amount expended from the commencement of the In- 

 stitution, a little less than one-eighth has been given to researches and 

 pubhcations. The rest has been applied to the special ohjects men- 

 tioned in the act, and to the general expenses of the Institution. 



In the act establishing the Institution, Congress carefully and wisely 

 forbore to fix the amount or proportion of the annual income which 

 should be appropriated to any of the objects mentioned in the fifth sec- 

 tion. They did not even determine, or limit the sum which should be 

 •expended on the building, nor have they in any manner indicated that 

 prominence should be given to sdj particular means or instrumentality 

 for increasing and diffusing knowledge. All this they have left to the 

 •discretion of the Regents, to whom they entrusted the conduct of the 

 Institution. They have, indeed, declared that annual appropriations 

 should be made for the gradual formation of a library, and have pro- 

 vided tliat such appropriations shall not exceed ^25,000 in the average. 



This is nothing but a limitation upon the discretion of the Regents, 

 and can by no rule of construction be considered as intimating the de- 

 sire of Congress that such sum should be annually appropriated. The 

 limitation, while it prevented the Regents from exceeding that sum, 

 left them hill discretion as to any amount within the limit. The in- 

 terest on the Smithsonian Fund was about ^30,000 per annum, and 

 Congress could not but know that an appropriation of five-sixths of that 

 amount per annum would leave a remainder entirely insufficient to de- 

 fray the salaries and ordinary expenses of an Institution such as was 

 ' designed by the act, and that nothing would be left for the care of col- 

 lections, the lectures, and other means of promoting the purpose of the 

 testator. In short, the act points out certain instrumentalities to be 

 emploj^ed in the execution of the trust, created by, and for the purposes 

 specified in the willof Smithson, and gives to the Managers or Regents 

 authority to dispose of all the income not required for the purposes 

 specified in the act, in such manner as they shall deem best suited for 

 the promotion of the purpose of the testator. As Congress did not de- 

 termine what portion of the income was to be applied to the purposes 

 specified in the act, it follows that such determination is to be made by 

 those to whom they intrusted the conduct of the business of the Insti- 

 tution; and thus the Regents are clearly invested with the power of de- 

 termining how much of that income is required resj^ectively for library, 

 for museum, for lectures, or for any of the objects specified in the filth 



