134 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



whose legislation, and the Executive through whose agency, the trust 

 connmitted to the honor, intelligence, and good faith of the nation, is to be 

 fulfilled." The centre of operations being permanently fixed at Wash- 

 ington, tlie character of this city for literature and science will be the 

 more highly exalted in proportion as the influence of the Institution is 

 more widely diffused. 



Tliat tlie terms increase and diffusion of knowledge are logically dis- 

 tinct, and should be literally interpreted with reference to the will, must 

 be evident when we reflect that they are used in a definite sense, and 

 not as mere synonymes, by all who are engaged in the pursuits to 

 which Smithson devoted his life. In England there are two classes of 

 institutions, founded on the two ideas conveyed by these terms. The 

 Royal Society, the Astronomical, the Geological, the Statistical, the 

 Antiquarian Societies, all have for their object the increase of knowledge, 

 while the London Institution, the Mechanics' Institution, the Surry In- 

 stitution, the Society for the Diflusion of Religious Knowledge, the So- 

 ciety f()r the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, are all intended to diffiise 

 or disseminate knowledge among men. In our own country, also, the 

 same distinction is observed in the use of the terms by men of science. 

 Our colleges, academies, and common schools, are recognised as insti- 

 tutions partially intended for the diffusion of knowledge, while the ex- 

 press object of some of our scientific societies is the promotion of the 

 discovery of new truths. 



The will makes no restriction in favor of an}^ particular kind 

 of knowledge ; though propositions have been frequently made 

 for devoting the funds exclusively to the promotion of certain 

 branches of science having more immediate application to the 

 practical arts of life, and the adoption of these propositions has 

 been urged on the ground of the conf(:)rmity of such objects to 

 the pursuits of Smithson : but an examination of his writings will 

 show that he excluded from his own studies no branch of general 

 knowledge, and that he was flilly impressed with the important philo- 

 sophical fact, that all subjects of human thought relate to one great sys- 

 tem of truth. To restrict, therefore, the operations of the Institution to 

 a single science or art, would do injustice to the character of the donor, 

 as well as to the cause of general knowledge. If preference is to be 

 given to any branches of research, it should be to the higher, and ap- 

 parently more abstract ; to the discovery of new principles, rather than of 

 isolated facts. And this is true even in a practical point of view. Agri- 

 culture would have forever remained an empirical art, had it not been 

 for the fight shed upon it by the atomic theory of chemistry ; and in- 

 comparably more is to be expected as to its future advancement from 

 the perfection of the microscope, than from improvements in the ordi- 

 nary instruments of husbandry. 



The plan of incn^asing and diffusing knowledge, presented in the first 

 section of the programme, will be found in strict accordance widi the 

 several propositions deduced from the will of Smithson, and given in 

 the Introduction. It embraces, as a leading feature, the design of 

 interesting the greatest number of individuals in the operations of the 

 Institution, and of spreading its influence as widely as possible. It forms 

 an active organization, exciting all to make original researches who are 



