8. To effect the greatest amount of good, the organization should be 

 such as to enable the institution to produce results in the way of increas- 

 ing and diffusing knowledge, which cannot be produced by the existing 

 institutions in our country. 



9. The organization should also be such as can be adopted provisionally, 

 can be easily reduced to practice, receive modifications, or be abandoned, 

 in whole or in part, without a sacrifice of the funds. 



10. In order to make up for the loss of time occasioned by the delay 

 of eight years in establishing the institution, a considerable portion of the 

 interest which has accrued should be added to the principal. 



11. In proportion to the wide field of knowledge to be cultivated, the 

 funds are small. Economy should therefore be consulted in the construc- 

 tion of the building; and not only should the first cost of the edifice be 

 considered, but also the continual expense of keeping it in repair, and of 

 the support of the establishment necessarily connected with it. There 

 should also be but few individuals permanently supported by the institution. 



12. The plan and dimensions of the building should be determined by 

 the plan of the organization, and not the converse. 



13. It should be recollected that mankind in general are to be benefited 

 by the bequest, and that, therefore, all unnecessary expenditure on local 

 objects would be a perversion of the trust. 



14. Besides the foregoing considerations, deduced immediately from the 

 will of Smithson, regard must be had to certain requirements of the act of 

 Congress establishing the institution. These are a library, a museum, and 

 a gallery of art, with a building on a liberal scale to contain them. 



SECTION I. 



Plan of organizatio7i of the institution, in accordance with the foregoing 

 deductions frotn the will of Smithson. 



To Increase Knowledge. It is proposed — 



1. To stimulate men of talent to make original researches, by offering 

 suitable rewards for memoirs containing new truths; and, 



2. To appropriate annually a portion of the income for particular re- 

 searches, under the direction of suitable persons. 



To Diffuse Knowledge. It is proposed — 



1. To publish a series of periodical reports on the progress of the different 

 branches of knowledge; and, 



2. To publish occasionally separate treatises on subjects of general in- 

 terest. 



