THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. , 81 



knowleclc;e among men, and grant an occasional Icctnrc as on other 

 suhjects,"it would accomplish mucli, and Congress may he made to 

 feel that the interests of the country demand their fostering care in 

 re<^ard to the arts, I think you will find that ours is the only gov- 

 ernment that has not seen and felt the importance to manuftictures of 

 cultivating the fine arts. The great strife with manufacturers is, to 

 obtain elegance and beauty without interfering with durability. 

 Beauty aucl symmetry should be made essentials in the manufacture 

 of thesimplest articles, as they may be attained without interfering 

 with more substantial qualities. Articles manufactured with elegance 

 and good proportion will always be preferred to those of only equal 

 streu^gth and durability, of uncouth form. It is true that we may 

 manufacture from forms and patterns produced by the forethought and 

 liberality of other nations, and still be inferior to what our own genius 

 would produce, were the facilities of cultivation in the fine arts made 

 equal with those of other nations. The free institutions of our country 

 cause men to rely in a measure on their own resources, thus early de- 

 veloping and practising those inventive powers so peculiar to our peo- 

 ple. We are not bound dow^n by the local laws and prejudices of socie- 

 ties, as in the Old World. Here a man, if he pleases, is his own 

 carpenter, mason, or smith. His inquiring mind and ingenuity leads 

 him to undertake and accomplish what he desires. How little will be 

 required to cultivate talent, and produce men who will record the 

 history of their country in marble or imperishable bronze — in the 

 language of nature, always to be understood. Our monuments and 

 antiquities will not carry with them the odor of royalty and nobility, 

 but forms of elegance and beauty. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM J. STONE.^ 

 Prof. Henry, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution. 



The Secretary exhibited a new form of meteorological blaialvS which 

 he had prepared for the joint use of the Institution and the Patent 

 Office, and also a simple form of the rain-gage, of which a. uumber 

 had been ordered for distribution to difierent parts of the country. 

 They are so constructed as to be readily transmitted by mail. 



The Secretary presented the following resolutions, wliich had been 

 unanimously adopted by the Illinois State Board of Educatiou, at a 

 meeting held in March last : 



"Whereas the Illinois State Board of Education concur in the 

 opinion of the necessity and importance of the meteorological observa- 

 tions to be made, in accordance with the system established by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, of simultaneous observations in every State 

 of this Union ; and whereas that Institution lias undertaken to col- 

 lect and digest all the observations which may be made on this conti- 

 nent ; therefore, 



" Resolved^ That we will co-operate with said Institution in order 

 to obtain full and reliable reports from the various sections of this 

 State. 



' ' Resolved, That each member of this Board select some competeni 

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