14 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



In our country, however, they have not all met with an equal share 

 of attention, and at the beginning of this Institution the confusion 

 of ideas on this subject was so great that in the interpretation of the 

 will, even by some of our prominent and enlightened men, the diffu- 

 sion of knowledge was identified with its increase; and it was con- 

 tended that Smithson had used the terms as synonymous, and desired 

 by the one merely to enforce the other. But that this was not the 

 case may be gathered from the meaning attached to these terms by 

 the class of men to which he belonged. : ' While we may truly exult, ' ' 

 says one of his eminent contemporaries,* "in the awakening of the 

 national intellect, Ave must remember that diffusion and advancement 

 are two very different processes, and that each may exist independent 

 of the other. It is very essential, therefore, when we speak of the 

 diffusion or extension of science, that we do not confound these stages 

 of development with discovery or advancement, since the latter may be 

 as different from the former as depth is from shallowness." 



That the diffusion of knowledge has been an object of solicitude to 

 the enlightened legislatures of almost every State in the Union is 

 evinced by the provision which has been made for libraries, schools, 

 academies, and colleges. The practical application of science to the 

 useful arts has received direct encouragement from the general gov- 

 ernment by the enactment of patent laws and the establishment of the 

 Patent Office. The fact, however, does not appear to have been so 

 constantly before the public mind that the advance of science or the 

 discovery of new truths, irrespective of their immediate application, 

 is also a matter of great importance, and eminently worthy of patron- 

 age and support. The progress of society and the increase of the 

 comfort and happiness of the human family depend as a basis on the 

 degree of our knowledge of the laws by which Divine Wisdom con- 

 ducts the affairs of the universe. He has created us with rational souls, 

 and endowed us with faculties to comprehend in some measure the 

 modes in which the operations of nature are effected; and just in 

 proportion to the advance we make by patient and persevering study, 

 in the knowledge of those modes or laws, are we enabled to apply 

 the forces of nature to our own use, and to avert the dangers to which 

 we are exposed from our ignorance of their varied influences. 



c Mr. Swainson. Cabinet Cyclopedia, 1834. 



