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to produce results of importance both in a practical and a theoretic point of 

 view. As an illustration of this remark, I may mention the case of the in- 

 vestigations made a few years ago by committees of the Franklin Institute, 

 of Philadelphia. The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States 

 placed at the disposal of this society a sum of money, for the purpose of 

 making experiments Math referenre to the cause of the explosion of steam- 

 boilers. A committee of the society v/as chosen for this purpose, which 

 adopted the ingenious plan of writing to all persons in the United States en- 

 gaged in the application of steam, and particularly to those who had observed 

 the explosion of a steam-boiler. In this way opinions and suggestions in 

 great variety, as to the cause of explosions, were obtained. The most 

 plausible of these were submitted to the test of experiment: the results ob- 

 tained were highly important, and are to be found favorably mentioned in 

 every systematic work on the subject of steam which has appeared, in any 

 language, within the last few years. New and important facts were es- 

 tablished; and, what was almost of as much consequence, errors which had 

 usurped the place of truth were dethroned. 



In the programme, examples are given of a few subjects of original re- 

 search to which the attention of the institution may be turned. I will 

 mention one in this place, which, in connexion with the contents of our 

 first memoir, may deserve immediate attention. I allude to a small appro- 

 priation made aniuially for researches with reference to the remains of the 

 ancient inliabitants of our country. This is a highly interesting field, 

 and what is done in regard to it should be done quickly. Every year the 

 progress of civilization is obhterating the ancient mounds, cities and vil- 

 lages are rising on the spots they have so long occupied undisturbed, and the 

 distinctive marks of these remains are every year becoming less and less 

 legible. 



In carrying out the spirit of the plan adopted, namely, that of affecting 

 men in general by the operations of the institution, it is evident that the 

 principal means of diffusing knowledge must be the pj-ess. Though lec- 

 tures should be given in the city in which Smithson has seen fit to direct 

 the establishment of his institution, yet, as a plan of general difiusion of 

 knowledge, the system of lectures would be entireh'' inadequate; every 

 village in our extended country would have a right to demand a share of 

 the benefit, and the income of the institution would be insufficient to supply 

 a tliousandth part of the demand. It is also evident that the knowledge 

 diffused should, if possible, not only embrace all branches of general in- 

 terest, so that each reader might find a subject suited to his taste, but also 

 that it should differ in kind and quality from that which can be readily 

 obtained through the cheap publications of the day. These requisites 

 will be fully complied with in the publications of the series of reports pro- 

 posed in the programme. A series of periodicals of this kind, posting up all 

 the discoveries in science from time to time, and giving a well digested ac- 

 count of all the important changes in the different branches of knowledge, 

 is a desideratum in the Baiglish language. The idea is borrowed from a 

 partial plan of this kind in operation in Sweden and Germany; and for an 

 example of what the work should be, 1 would refer to the annual report to 

 the Swedish Academy of its perpetual Secretary, Berzelius, on physical 

 science. The reports can be so prepareil as to be highly interesting to the 

 general reader, and at the same time of great importance to the exclusive 



