22 Mis. No. 48. 



Programme of organization of the SmitJiSonian Institution, presented in 

 the first Annual Report of the Secretary and adopted by the Board of 

 Regents, December 13, 1S4T. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS WHICH SHOULD SERVE AS A GUIDE IN ADOPTING 



A PLAN OF ORGANIZATION. 



1. Will of Smithson. The property is bequeathed to the United 

 States of America, " to found at Washington, under the name of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, an estabhshment for the increase and diffusion ol 

 knowledge among men." 



2. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind. The government of the 

 United States is merely a trustee to carry out the design of the testator. 



3. The Institution is not a national establishment, as is frequently sup- 

 posed, but the establishment of an individual, and is to bear and perpetu- 

 ate his name. 



4. The objects of the Institution are — 1st, to increase, and 2d, to diffuse 

 knowledge among men. 



5. These two objects should not be confounded with one another. 

 The first is to increase the existing stock of knowledge by the addition of 

 new truths ; and the second to disseminate knowledge, thus increased, 

 among men. 



6. The will makes no restriction in favor of any particular kind of 

 knowledge ; hence all branches are entitled to a share of attention. 



7. Knowledge can be increased by different methods of facilitating and 

 promoting the discovery of new truths, and can be most efliciently diffused 

 among men by means of the press. 



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 increasing 

 and diffusing knowledge, which cannot be produced by the existing insti- 

 tutions in our country. 



9. The organization should also be such as can be adopted provision- 

 ally, can be easily reduced to practice, receive modifications, or be aban- 

 doned, 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 ot 

 eight years in establishing the Institution, a considerable portion of the in- 

 terest which has accrued should be added to the principal. 



11. In proj)ortion 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 rlso 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 pernmnenily supported by tlK^ Institution. 



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

 the plan of organization, and not the converse. 



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

 ed by the bequest, and tliat, 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 Smith>on, regard must be had to certain re(iuircnients of the act of 

 Congress establishing the Institution. 1'hese are a library ,a museum, and 

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



