VI PllEFACE. 



giving occasion to similar controversies. Notwithstanding the de- 

 lay in establishing the Institution, and the difficulty in deciding on 

 the best plan of organization, after more than thirty years of its 

 active and useful existence, it is gratifying to know that the fund 

 left by James Smithson not only remains unimpaired, but has beea 

 very largely increased. 



There can be no doubt that Smithson's world-wide renown 

 is due not only to his own acts, but to the enlightened, pure, 

 and able administration of the trust, and that, with the name of 

 the founder, will always be held in admiration and esteem that of 

 the first Secretary of the Institution, Professor Joseph Henry. Of 

 the many plans proposed for realizing the purposes of Smithson 

 scarcely any would have carried his name beyond local reputation. 

 Much larger bequests or gifts have been made by others to found 

 libraries, and yet the names and foundations of such persons are 

 scarcely known to the world. The Smithsonian library in Wash- 

 ington would have been no more to mankind than the Rush 

 library in Philadelphia, the Lenox in New York, or the Newberry 

 in Chicago, each of which has a foundation of more than a million 

 of dollars. 



That the collecting and publication of the materials composing 

 this volume should have been so long delayed has been a matter of 

 regret to all who wished to study the history of the Institution or 

 or to become acquainted with the life and character of its founder. 

 The fire in the Smithsonian building, in 1865, unfortunately 

 destroyed the manuscripts of Smithson which had come into the 

 possession of the Institution; a careful examination of these would 

 have probably thrown additional light on his character and pur- 

 poses. The present volume has been prepared by special direction 

 of the Board of Regents to supply the want long felt by them and 

 others. It is only to be regarded as a mine or store-house of 

 material from which the history of the Institution can be hereafter 

 prepared, and from which illustrations may be drawn of the en- 

 larged or contracted views of our legislators, and the wise or vision- 

 ary theories and schemes of literary and scientific men. 



