National ScicJitific a/id luiucalloiial I)islilittio)is. 305 



for want of the securities which such inslilulions would supply, ()ut-l)alauces, beyoud 

 comparison, all it would cost to establish and maintain them in every principal city 

 of the land. It is partly a sort of electioneerings economy which leaves things thus, 

 and which has heretofore refused or neglected to fit out Exploring Ivxpeditions; to 

 accunuilate natiomal treasures of art and science, and facilities fcjr their prosecution ; 

 and generally to pursue a system of "in-breeding and cherishing," as Milton has 

 it, "in a great people, the seeds of virtue and public civilit}-;" excepting alwaj-s 

 what is done for the diffusion of elementary popular eflucation. Tliis education, to 

 be sure, and this diffusion of it, we arc taught to regard as necessaries in our moral 

 and social being,— the "staff of public life" among us. And we are right. It is so. 

 But there are many other things which we have not been taught to appreciate as 

 they deserve, and the value of which we have gradually to grope our way to. Their 

 day, however, will come ; though it cannot be expected that either a government 

 or a people, so youthful, so hurried, so fluctuating, can reach at once to the graces 

 and the "fair humanities" of the old world. Rememljcr that "The United States" 

 are only some half-century old ; and remember what ^ve have been obliged to do and 

 to suffer meanwhile, and under what circumstances. P.ut, as I said before, the time 

 is coming, if not come, when the heart of the nation shall acknowledge what is the 

 high (hity and destiny of a country like this; and thoi, I need not tell you, all is 

 accomplished. Congress and the government must always represent the general, as 

 well as the political character of the nation. It will l)e refined, scientific, public- 

 s])irited, or otherwise, as are the people. At this moment, as at all times, the repre- 

 sentative and the represented, bear this relation to each other as intimately as might 

 be expected from the nature of our institutions: and hence, from the signs which 

 have appeared in the legislative bodies, I derive hope, and feel authorized to sa}' 

 what I have said of the advance, throughout our community, of what may be called 

 the graceful and genial system of civilization, as distinguished from the ])ractical 

 and hard. This subject of observatories is quite in point. True, nothing has yet 

 been done, but then a good deal has been said; and that is much: it is, in fact, doing- 

 much, in a case like this. It was something for Congress to bear l^eing told what 

 they had neglected, and patiently to discuss the subject. 



The principal agent in 1)ringing the subject forward has been Ivx-Prcsident Adams, 

 who, as you may be aware, is still an M. C.,at the age of between seventy and 

 eighty, and one of the halest and hardiest men in that body. His spirit is equal to 

 his iron con.stitution. He spares himself no labour. So well is this understood, that 

 it has been of late rather a practice to select the old gentleman for special burthens; 

 and there are many matters of. legislative action, which he really understands better, 

 or knows better at least how to explore and determine, than any member of the 

 House. Thus the Observatory business came iipon him, at least indirectly; for, to 

 some extent, he brought it on himself. You are, no doubt, familiar with the historj' 

 of the great Smithsonian Ik-quest. When that business came before Congress, and 

 especially as it was not a party one, all eyes were turned on ]\Ir. Adams, and he was 

 appointed Chairman of tlie Committee. In this capacity he has made sundry 

 Reports: the last and aljlest reviews the whole subject. In this he labours to show 

 what general ap])ropriation ought to be made of the fund- for that is not yet deter- 

 mined — and then to sustain a special recommendation, which is, to devote the 

 income for about ten years to an Ol)Scrvatory, to be founded on national land, at 

 Washington, " adapted to the most effective and continual observations of the phe- 

 nomena of the heavens, and to be provided with the necessary, be.st, and most jicr- 

 fect instruments and books, for the periodical pul)lication of the said observations, 

 and for the annual compo.sition and ])ublication of a Nautical Almanack." The 

 details of the plan may be omitted. Many, however, of the statistics connected with 

 them, are new to us here, and of interest, including a Report on the British establi.sh- 

 ineiits, furnished on request by the Astronomer Airy. To a greater extent these 

 NAT ]MUS 97, PT 2 20 



