THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 123 



tion, particular researches. This plan has been found eminently prac- 

 ticable, and by means of it the Institution has been enabled to produce 

 results which have made it favorably known in every part of the civil- 

 ized world. The communications are submitted to competent judges, 

 who vouch for the value and truth of the discoveries. The publications 

 which result from this plan are presented to all the first class libraries 

 in the world, as well as to all colleges and well established public in- 

 stitutions in this country. The intention is to place the publications in 

 such positions as will enable them to be seen by the greatest number 

 of persons. In this way a knowledge of the discoveries are diffused 

 among men as widely as the income will allow. 



No copyright is taken for the memoirs, and the writers of popular 

 books are at liberty to use them in the compilation of their works. The 

 knowledge which they contain is thus in time still more generally dif- 

 fused. In other countries, institutions for the promotion of the discovery 

 of new truths, and the publication of the results, are endowed by the 

 government; but there are no institutions for this purpose here, and 

 hence men of science labor under great disadvantages. The higher 

 the value of a work of science, the fewer do its readers become. If 

 writers wish to make money by their labors, they must publish novels. 



The Principia of Newton did not pay for itself, and yet in the pres- 

 ent day every one shares in the benefits accruing from it. 



Another part of the plan is to publish reports on scientific subjects, 

 and to spread them as widely as the state of the funds will allow. 



Note. — For an account of what has actually been accomplished, see the several reports of 

 the Secretary. 



