10 Doc. No. 11. 



I have thus very briefly, but as far as my avocations would allow, 

 thrown together a few hints upon the subject to which you have directed 

 my attention. That I should go into detail, I presume, was not expected. 

 Whatever may be the plan adopted, I presume it will not be carried into 

 effect until an extensive observation of the best universities in Europe 

 has furnished the Government with all the knowledge which the present 

 condition of the science of education can afford. 



I have the honor to be, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 



F. WAYLAND. 



Hon. J. Forsyth, 



Secretary of State. 



Columbia, South Carolina, 



July 20, 1838. - 



Sir : With respect to the Smithson legacy, two courses only suggest 

 themselves to my mind : one, annual premiums for the best treatises on 

 given subjects, which we have not literary or scientific men enough to 

 sapply or to enter into any thing like competition with the Bridgewater 

 Treatises; and, therefore, we should only be disgraced by it ; and, there- 

 fore, I cannot recommend this mode of application. Add to which, it 

 would be very apt to degenerate into a political and party institution, in 

 various ways. The other is an institution of the character of an university. 

 I am well aware the power of erecting an university was twice refused 

 to Congress, in the convention of 1787. But the objection may be gotten 

 over by transferring the donation to the corporation of Georgetown, un- 

 der such limitation as may be expedient and constitutional, and let an 

 university be instituted by that corporation. This would be a sufficient 

 approximation to Mr. Smithson's required locality, and would obviate the 

 constitutional objection. 



Such an university ought not to be opened, except to graduates of 

 other colleges. The studies migh^ be the higher algebraical calculus; 

 the application of mathematics to practical mechanical knowledge of 

 every description, and to astronomy, to chemistry, electricity, and gal- 

 vanism ; the principles of botany and agriculture. No Latin or Greek ; 

 no mere literature. Things, not words. 



Strict attendance ; strict and public examinations. I object to all belles- 

 letters^ and philosophical literature, as calculated only to make men pleas- 

 ant talkers. I object to medicine, which cannot be well taught in a lo- 

 cality of less than 100,000 inhabitants. 



I object to law; for all that can be orally delivered can be more profit- 

 ably and deliberately learnt by perusal. Ethics and politics are as yet 

 unsettled branches of knowledge. 



Whether physiology and political economy ought to be rejected, re- 

 quires more consideration than I can at this moment bestow. 1 want to 

 see those studies cultivated, which, in their known tendencies and results, 

 abridge human labor, and increase and multiply the comforts of exist- 

 ence to the great mass of mankind. Public education should be useful, 

 not ornamental. 



The course should not be less than 3 years, of 10 months each. The 

 instruction afforded gratis; examinations for admission rigid. Such, in 



