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of occupying ground untenanted by other institutions, and of doing nothing 

 with the funds which can be equally well accomplished 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 specimens, as to the publications and other ope- 

 rations of the Institution. 



With reference to the library, the idea ought never be entertained that 

 the portioji of the limited income of the Smithsonian fund which can be de- 

 voted 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 libraiies 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, arranging, cataloguing and preserving books ; to give infor- 

 mation 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 particularly to 

 those in our own country. The libraries of the country must be supplied 

 by the country itself; by the general government; by the State govern- 

 ments; 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 foun- 

 dation will be laid for a collection of books worthy of a govenunent 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 

 j)hice. It is estimated that about twenty thousand volumes, including pam- 

 jthlets, purporting to be additions to the sum of human knowledge, are pub- 

 lished annually; and unless this mass be properly arj-anged, and the means 

 furnished by Avhich its contents may be ascertained, literatuie and science 

 will be oveiwiielmed by their own unwieldy bulk. The pile \\ill begin to 

 totter und(>r itst)v/n weight, and all the additions we may heap upon it 

 will tcntl to add to the extension of the base, without increasing the elevation 

 and dignity of the edifice. 



One of the most important means of facilitating the use of libraries, par- 

 ticularly with reference to science, is well digested indexes of subjects, not 

 merely referring to volumes or books, but to memoirs, papers, and parts of 

 scientific transactions and systematic works. As an example of this, I 

 would refer to the admirably arranged and valuable index to natural phi- 

 losophy and the mechanical arts by Dr. Young. "If my library were on 

 fire," said a celebrated author, " and I could save but one scientific book, 

 it would be Dr. Yoang's index." This work comes down to ]807 ; and I 

 know of no richer gift which could be bestowed upon the science of our 

 own day tlian the continuation of this index to the present time. Every 

 one who is desirous of enlarging the bounds of human knowledge should, in 

 justice to himself, as well as to the public, be acquainted with what has pre- 

 viously been done in the same line, and this he vvill only he enabled to ac- 

 complish by the use (;i indexes ot the kind above mentioned. 



The most important operation during the past year relative to the library, 



