154 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



ready pursued by the Secretary with such credit to himself, and such 

 honor to the scientific character of the country. 



The Smithsonian Institution is also to be entrusted with the conser- 

 vation of a National Museum, Congress having, by a clause in the Act 

 of Incorporation, devolved upon it the charge of the immense collec- 

 tions belonging to the public, of which those brought home by Captain 

 Wilkes from the Exploring Expedition form the gi'eater portion, but 

 which are daily increasing from many other sources. These collec- 

 tions, when a proper and convenient place shall have been prepared 

 for their reception and preservation, are likely to accumulate with still 

 greater rapidity in time to come. 



While there is an obvious propriety and convenience in thus entrust- 

 ing the care of the public collections to the officers of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, it will not, the Committee trust, be forgotten by Congress 

 that the income of the Smithsonian bequest — moderate at best, and 

 consecrated to an object distinct as it is elevated — ought not to be 

 burdened with the cost of constructing an edifice for the reception and 

 exhibition of the pubhc collections, or of their preservation and care. 

 These objects would alone absorb a considerable portion of the fund. 

 If drawn upon to carry them into effect, its efficiency for any other pur- 

 pose will be seriously diminished, if not altogether destroyed. 



The plan also contemplates a museum oi" the fine arts as well as a 

 scientific apparatus. It proposes to procure " casts of the most cele- 

 brated articles of ancient and modern sculpture" and " models of an- 

 tiquities." While it is undoubtedly true that a gallery of this descrip- 

 tion would find an appropriate place in an establishment devoted to the 

 increase and diffiision of knowledge in its broadest sense, the Commit- 

 tee cannot but hope that the immediate execution of this part of the plan 

 will not be attempted ; but that it will be deferred till other objects of 

 more decided utilit\^ have been provided for, and until a surplus of un- 

 appropriated funds shall have accrued. 



The Academy will perceive that the most novel and important fea- 

 ture of the plan is that which proposes to insure the publication of me- 

 moirs and treatises on impoi»tant subjects of investigation, and to offer 

 pecuniary encouragement to men of talent and attainment to engage in 

 scientific research. It is believed that no Institution in the country 

 effects either of these objects to any great extent. The nearest 

 approach to it is the practice of the Academy and other Philosophical 

 Societies, of publishing the memoirs accepted by them. These, 

 however, can rarely be works of great compass. No systematic 

 plan of compensation for the preparation of works of scientific re- 

 search is known b}^ the Committee to have been attempted in this or 

 any other country. It can scarcely be doubted that an important im- 

 pulse would be given by the Institution, in this way, to the cultivation 

 of scientific pursuits : while the extensive and widely ramified system 

 of distribution and exchange by which the publications are to be dis- 

 tributed throughout the United States and the world, would secure 

 them a circulation which works of science could scarcely attain in any 

 other way. 



It is an obvious characteristic of this mode of appl^^ing the funds of 

 the Institution, that its influence would operate most widely throughout 



