414 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



knowledge, and claims as its recipients the men of this and 

 of all coming ages. 



The limitation of the bequest, then, is to the " increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men." Here two objects 

 are aimed at. Increase, enlargement, extension, progress ; 

 and diffusion, spread, communication, dissemination. These 

 the bill seeks to accomplish by various means. It proposes 

 to increase knowledge by collecting specimens of the works 

 of nature, from every clime, and in each of her kingdoms ; 

 by gathering objects in every branch of industrial, decora- 

 tive, representative, and imaginative art ; by accumulating 

 the records of human action, and thought, and imagination, 

 in every form of literature ; by instituting experimental re- 

 searches in agriculture, in horticulture, in chemistry, and 

 in other studies founded upon observation. It proposes to 

 diffuse the knowledge thus accumulated, acquired, and ex- 

 tended, by throwing open to public use the diversified col- 

 lections of the institution in every branch of human inquiry ; 

 by lectures upon every subject of liberal interest ; by a nor- 

 mal school, where teachers shall become pupils, and the 

 best modes that experience has devised for imparting the 

 rudiments of knowledge shall be communicated ; by pre- 

 paring and distributing models of scientific apparatus, and 

 by the publication of lectures, essays, manuals, and treatises. 



Of the various instrumentalities recommended by this 

 noble and imposing scheme, the simplest and most efficient, 

 both as it respects the increase and the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, is, in my judgment, the provision for collecting for 

 public use a library, a museum, and a gallery of art ; and I 

 should personally much prefer, that for a reasonable period 

 the entire income of the fund should be expended in carry- 

 ing out this branch of the plan. 



But in expressing my preference for such a present appli- 

 cation of the moneys of the fund, and my belief that we 

 should thus best accomplish the purposes of the donor, I 

 desire not to be understood as speaking contemptuously of 

 research and experiment in natural knowledge and the 

 economic arts. I have too much both of interest and of 

 feeling staked upon the prosperity of these arts, and they 

 are to me subjects too intrinsically attractive, to allow me to 

 be indifferent to any measure which promises to promote 

 their advancement. I am even convinced, that their earnest 

 cultivation and extension are absolutely indispensable to our 

 national prosperity, our true independence, and almost our 

 political existence ; and I am at all times ready to maintain 

 their claim to all the legislative favor which it is within the 



