THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 211 



every department of literature and science. Respectful attention is 

 always given to these applications ; and when the desired answer does 

 not fall within the line of study of any officer of the Institution, it is 

 sought for from those in whose knowledge and judgment we have full 

 confidence. No inconsiderable portion of time is occupied in giving 

 the information involved in the answers to these inquiries; but I am 

 happy to inform the Board that in this service, as well as in that of 

 examining memoirs, we have received the co-operation of a considera- 

 ble number of the most distinguished individuals in our country, and in 

 .scarcely a single case has application for assistance in this way been 

 refused. By the operation of the plan adopted, the Institution can 

 command the talents and the learning of the world, and with a small 

 corps of permanent officers, or a sufficient clerical force, can discharge 

 the duty of an association to which subjects relative to all branches 

 of knowledge can be referred. 



There is one class of requests which, by a resolution of the Board of 

 Regents, we are directed to refuse, viz : those for the examination and 

 approval of the innumerable inventions by which the ingenious and 

 enterprising seek to better their own condition and that of the public. 

 Were it not for this resolution, originally proposed by General Cass, 

 we would be overwhelmed with applications of this kind, and have 

 forced upon us the business of the Patent Office. Besides this, the 

 principal object of the organization is the discovery of new truths. 

 rather than the application of known principles to useful purposes. 

 Not that we would undervalue the labors of the inventor ; but because 

 practical knowledge has a marketable value which alwa3^s insures its 

 cultivation, provided the higher philosophical truths on which it is 

 founded are sufficiently developed and made known. 



.The idea is still very generally entertained that Smilhson bequeathed 

 his property to this country for the diffusion of useful knowledge 'among 

 the people, and that his intention would be best consulted by the 

 expenditure of all the income in the publication and general distribu- 

 tion of tracts on practical subjects. The adoption of this plan would 

 be to dissipate the funds without beneficial effect. A single report of 

 the Patent Office costs, in some instances, more than three times the 

 income of the Smithsonian fund, which itself would be insufficient for 

 {he general diffusion of a single octavo page of printed matter. The 

 property, however, was not left to the inhabitants of the United States, 

 but to the government, in trust for the good of man ; and not merely 

 for the dissemination or diffusion of knowledge, but, first of all, for 

 creating, originating, increasing it. Furthermore, Smithson does not 

 confine his bequest to the promotion of useful knowledge alone, in the 

 lower sense of the term, but includes all knowledge in his liberal and 

 philosophical design. The true, the beautiful, as well as the imme- 

 diately practical, are all entitled to a share of attention. All knowledge 

 is profitable ; profitable in its ennobhng effect on the character, in the 

 pleasure it imparts in its acquisition, as well as in the power it gives 

 over the operations of mind and of matter. All knowledge is usefid; 

 every part of this complex system of nature is connected with every 

 other. Nothing is isolated. The discovery of to-day, which appears 



