[23] 



172 



No. 6. 



Report of the Secretan/ of the Smithsonian Institution to the Board of 



Regents, December S, 1847. 



Gentlemen: A statement of the financial condition of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and of the progress made in the erection of the building, hav- 

 ing been presented to your board by the committees charged with the care 

 of these objects, it becomes my duty, as Secretary of the institution, to give 

 an account of what has been done relative to the development of the plan 

 of organization, and of the steps which have been taken in the way of 

 carrying it into operation. 



In accordance with my instructions, I consulted with men of eminence, 

 in the different branches of literature and science, relative to the details of 

 the plan of organization, and arranged the various suggestions offered, in 

 the form of the accompanying programme. This, after having been sub- 

 mitted to a number of persons in whose knowledge and judgment I have 

 confidence, is now presented to the board, with the concurrence of the 

 Committee on Organization, for consideration and provisional adoption. I 

 regret that my engagements have been such as to render it impossible for 

 me to call upon many persons whose counsel would have been valuable, 

 but I hope hereafter to avail myself of their advice in behalf of the iiistitu- 

 tion. I also regret that I could not give the names of those whose sug- 

 gestions have been adopted in the programme; the impossibility of ren- 

 dering justice to all, has prevented my attempting this. Many of the sugges- 

 tions have been offered by different persons, independently of each other; 

 and, indeed, the general plan of the increase and diffusion of knowledge 

 as adopted by the board, is such as would naturally arise in the mind of 

 any person conversant with the history of physical science, and with the 

 means usually employed for its extension and diffusion. 



The introduction to the programme contains a series of propositions, 

 suggested by a critical examination of the will of Smithson, to serve as a 

 guide in judging of the fitness of any proposed plan for carrying out the 

 design of the testator. The first section of the programme gives the de- 

 tails of the plan proposed for the increase and diffusion of knowledge by 

 means of publication and original researches. The second section fur- 

 nishes the details, so far as they can be made out at the present time, of 

 the formation of a library, and a collection of objects of nature and art. 

 These two plans combined, embrace the general propositions adopted by 

 the Board of Regents at their last meeting, as the basis of future operations. 

 It is intended in the proposed plan to harmonize the two modes of increasing 

 and diffusing knowledge, and to give to the institution the widest influ- 

 ence compatible with its limited income. That all the propositions will 

 meet with general approval cannot be expected; and that this organization 

 is the best that could be devised is neither asserted nor believed. To 

 produce a priori a plan of organization which shall be found to succeed 

 perfectly in practice, and require no amendment, would be difficult under 

 the most favorable circumstances, and becomes almost impossible where 

 conflicting opinions are to be harmonized, and the definite requirements of 

 tlie act establishing the institution are to be observed. It is not intended 

 that the details of the organization, as given in the programme, should be 

 permanendy adopted without careful trial; they are rather presented as 



