224 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



and a gallery of ait, and the other to publications, researches, and other 

 active operations. The terms of this compromise have been rigidly 

 adhered to, as will be seen by a reference to the general statement of 

 accounts given in the last Report. Up to the date of the appointment 

 of Professor Baird, in July, 1850, the part of the income devoted to 

 the collections was expended on the library, or on objects pertaining to 

 it. Since that time, a portion has been devoted to the museum. 



It is proper to remark that this compromise was founded upon another, 

 namely, that the cosi of the building and furniture should be limited to 

 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But in order to the better 

 security of the collections, the Regents have since found it necessary to 

 add, in round numbers, fill}' thousand dollars to this sum, which must 

 of course diminish the income which would otherwise have been de- 

 voted to the active operations. 



It is evident that one spirit, if possible, should pervade the whole 

 organization, and that the same polic}^ should be adopted with reference 

 to all parts of the plan. Among the maxims which have been acted 

 upon, that of occupying ground untenanted by other institutions, and 

 of doing nothing with the funds which can be equally well accom- 

 plished by other means, has commended itself to the intelligent and 

 reflecting portion of the public ; and it has always appeared to me that 

 this is as applicable to the formation of collections of books and speci- 

 mens, as to the publications and other operations of the Institution. 



With reference to the Irbrar}^ the idea ought never to be entertained 

 that the portion of the limited income of the Smithsonian fund which 

 can be devoted to the purchase of books will ever be sufficient to meet 

 the wants of the American scholar. On the contrary, it is the duty of 

 this Institution to increase those wants by pointing out new fields for 

 exploration, and by stimulating other researches than those which are 

 now cultivated. It is a part of that duty to make the value of libraries 

 more generally known, and their want in this country more generally 

 felt; to show in what branches of knowledge our libraries are most 

 deficient ; to point out the means by which those deficiencies can be 

 supplied ; to instruct the public in the best methods of procuring, ar- 

 ranging, cataloguing, and preserving books ; to give information as to 

 the best form and construction of library buildings ; in short, to do all 

 which was originally intended in the plan, of rendering the Institution 

 a centre of bibliographical knowledge, to which the American scholar 

 can refer for all information relative to books in general, and particu- 

 larly to those in our own country. The libraries of the country must 

 be supplied b}' the country itself: by the general government; by the 

 State governments; by cities, towns, and villages; and by wealthy and 

 liberal individuals. It is to be hoped that in the restoration of the 

 Library of Congress, a foundation will be laid for a collection of books 

 worthy of a government whose perpetuity principally depends on the 

 intelligence of the people. 



The proper management of books, and general instruction as to their 

 use, are matters perhaps of more importance than their accumulation 

 in any one place. It is estimated that about twenty thousand volumes, 

 including pamphlets, purporting to be additions to the sum of human 

 knowledge, arc published annually; and unless this mass be properly 



