Mis. No. 48. 27 



the Institution are to be observed. It is not intended tliat the details of 

 the organization, as given in the programme, should be permanently 

 adopted without careful trial; they are rather presented as suggestions to 

 be adopted provisionally, and to be carried into operation gradually and 

 cautiously, with such changes, from time to time, as experience may dic- 

 tate. ^ 



That the Institution is not a national establishment, in tlie sense in which 

 institutions dependent on the government for support are so, must be evi- 

 dent when it is recollected that the money was not absolutely given to the 

 United States, but intrusted to it for a special object, namely: the estab- 

 Hshment of an institution for the benefit of men, to bear the name of the 

 donor, and, consequently, to reflect upon his memory the honor of all the 

 good which may be accomplished by means of the bequest. The opera- 

 tions of the Smithsonian Institution ought, therefore, to be mingled as little 

 as possible with those of the government, and its funds should be applied 

 exclusively and faithfully to the increase and diflusion of knowledge 



among men. 



That the bequest is intended for the benefit of men in general, and tliat 

 its influence ought not to be restricted to a single district, or even nation, 

 may be inferred not only from the words of the will, but also from the 

 character of Smithson himself; and I beg leave to quote from a scrap of 

 paper in his own hand, the following sentiment bearing on this point: 

 "*The man of science has no country; the world is his country — all men, 

 his countrymen." The origin of the funds, the bequest of a foreigner, 

 should also preclude the adoption of a plan which does not, in the words 

 of Mr. Adams, " spread the benefits to be derived from the Institution not 

 only over the whole surface of this Union, but throughout the civilized 

 world," " Mr. Smithson's reason for fixing the seat of his Institution at 

 Washington obviously was, that thc)-c is the seat of government of the 

 United States, and there the Congress by whose legislation, and the Ex- 

 ecutive through 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 literature 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 diffusion of knowledge are logically dis- 

 tinct, and should be literally interpreted widi ref-rencc to the will, must be 

 evident when we reflect that they are used in a definite sense, aiid not as 

 mere synonymes, by all who are engaged in die pursuits to which Smidison 

 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 Staiistical, the Antiquarian Societies, all have 

 for their object the increase of knowledge; wliile the I.ondon Institution, 

 the Mechanics' Institution, the Surry Institution, the Society for the Dif- 

 fusion of Religious Knowledge, the Society for the Diflusion of Useful 

 Knowledge, are all intended to diffuse or disseminate knowledge among 

 men. In our own country, also, the same distinction is observed m the use 

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

 schools, are recognized as institutions partially intended for the diflusion ot 

 knowledge, while the express object of some of our scienUliC societies is 

 the promotion of the discovery of new truths. , i • j r i i 



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



