11 



•eciUive tliTough whose agency, the trust committed to the honor, intelli- 

 gence, and good faith of the nation, is to be fulfilled." The centre of 

 operations being permanently fixed at Washington, the character of this 

 city for hterature and science will be the more highly exalted in proportion 

 as the influence of the institution is more widely diflused. 



That the terms increase and dijj'usinn of knowledge are logically dis- 

 tinct, and should be literally interpreted with reference to the will, must be 

 evident wh-en we reflect that they are ysed in a definite sense, and not as 

 mere synonymes, by all who are engaged in the pursuits to which Smithson 

 devoted his life. In England there are two classes of institutions, founded 

 on the two ideas conveyed by these terms. The Royal Society, the Astro- 

 nomical, the Geological, the Statistical, the Antiquaiian Societies, all have 

 for their object the increase of knowledge; while the London Institution, the 

 Mechanics' Institution, the Surry Institution, the Society for the Diflusion 

 of Religious Knowledge, the Society for the Dift\ision of Useful Knowledge, 

 are all intended to difluse or disseminate knowledge among men. In 

 our own country, also, the sam« distinction is observed in the use of th(' 

 terms by men of science. Our colleges, academies, and common schools, 

 are recognised as institutions partially ijitended for the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, while the express object of some of our scientific societies is the pro- 

 motion of the discovery of new truths. 



The will makes no restriction in favor of any particular kind of knowl- 

 edge; though propositions have been frequently made for devoting the 

 funds exclusively to the promotion of certain branches of science having 

 more immediate application to the practical arts of life, and the adoption of 

 these propositions has been urged on the ground of the conformity of such 

 objects to the pursuits of Smithson; but an examination of his writing.*^ 

 will show that he excluded from his own studies no branch of general 

 knowledge, and that he was fully impressed with the important philosopii- 

 ical fact, that all subjects of human thought relate to one great system of 

 truth. To restrict, therefore, the operations of 'fhe institution to a single 

 science or art, would do injustice to the character of the donor, as well as 

 to the cause of general knowledge. If preference is to be -given to any 

 branches of research, it should be to the higher, and apparently more ab- 

 stract; to the discovery of new principles, ratlier than of isolated facts. And 

 this is true even in a practical point of view. Agriculture would have for- 

 ever remained an empirical art, had it not been for the light shed upon it 

 by the atomic theory of chemistry; and incomparably more is to be ex- 

 pected as to its future advancement from the perfection of the microscope, 

 ihan from improvements in the ordinary instruments of husbandry. 



