152 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF JOSEril HENRY. 



possessing weight of character and a high grade of talent ; and that it 

 is farther desirable that he possess eminent scientitic and general acquire- 

 ments ; that he be a man capable of advancing science and i)romoting 

 letters by original researcli and efibrt, well qualified to act as a respected 

 channel of communication between the Institution and scientific and 

 literary individuals and societies in this and foreign countries ; and, in 

 a word, a man worthy to represent before the world of science and let- 

 ters the Institution over which this Board presides." 



Immediately following the adoption- of this resolution, Professor Jo- 

 seph Henry, of Princeton, was elected Secretary. On the 14th of De- 

 cember a letter was read from him accepting the appointment. At the 

 meeting a week later, he appeared and entered upon the duties of his 

 office. From this time the biography of Professor Henry is the history 

 of the Institution. That history is set forth in the Secretary's anniud 

 reports, presented by the Board of Eegents to Congress, and it need not 

 be recapitulated. A few words may give some idea of the deep impres- 

 sion he made upon the Institution while it was yet i)lastic. 



Some time before his appointment he had been requested by members 

 of the Board of Regents to examine the will of Smithson, and to suggest 

 a plan of organization by which the object of the bequest might, in his 

 opinion, best be realized. He did so, and the plan he drew was in their 

 hands when he was chosen Secretary. As he himself summed it up, 

 the plan was based on the conviction " that the intention of the donor 

 was to advance science by original research and publication ; that the 

 establishment was for the benefit of mankind generally, and that all 

 unnecessary expenditures on local objects would be violations of the 

 trust." The plan proposed was, in the leading feature, " to assist men 

 of science in making original researches, to pulilish thern in a series of 

 volumes, and to give a copy of these to every first-class library on the 

 face of the earth." 



His " Plan of Organization," filled out in its details and adjusted to 

 the conditions prescribed by the law and by the action of the Pegents, 

 was submitted to the Board in the following year, was adopted as its 

 " governing policy," and it has been reprinted, in full or in part, in 

 almost every annual report. All would understand, therefore, that Pro- 

 fessor Henry^'s views were approved, and that they would be carried 

 into effect as far and as fast as they commended themselves to the judg- 

 ment of the Regents, and as opportunity made them practicable. 



If the Institution is now known and praised throughout the woild of 

 science and letters, if it is fulfilling the will of its founder and the reason- 



