i64 



CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



was bequeathed to the United States by James Smithsou, of 

 London, to found at Washington, under the name of the 

 "Smithsonian Institution," an establishment " for the in- 

 crease and diiiusion of knowledge among men." It is not 

 bequeathed to the United States to be used for their own 

 benefit and advantage onl}^ but in trust to apply to " the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge " among mankind 

 generally, so that other men and other nations might share 

 in its advantage as well as ourselves. 



Congress accepted the trust, and by the act of August 

 10th, 1846, established an institution to carry into effect the 

 intention of the testator. The language of the will left a 

 very wide discretion in the manner of executing the trust, 

 and different opinions might very naturally be entertained 

 on the subject. And it is very evident by the law above 

 referred to that Congress did not deem it advisable to pre- 

 scribe any definite and fixed plan, and deemed it more 

 proper to confide that duty to a Board of Regents, carefully 

 selected, indicating only in general terms the objects to 

 which their attention was to be directed in executing the 

 testator's intention. 



Thus, by the fifth section, the regents were required to 

 cause a building to be erected of sufficient size, and with 

 suitable rooms or halls, for the reception and arrangement, 

 upon a liberal scale, of objects of natural history, including 

 a geological and mineralogical cabinet ; also a chemical 

 laboratory, a library, a gallery of art, and the necessary 

 lecture rooms. It is evident that Congress intended by 

 these provisions that the funds of the institution should be 

 applied to increase knowledge in all the branches of science 

 mentioned in this section — in objects of natural history, in 

 geology, in mineralogy, in chemistry, in the arts — and that 

 lectures were to be delivered upon such topics as the 

 regents might deem useful in the execution of the trust. 

 And publications by the institution were undoubtedly nec- 

 essary to diffuse generally the knowledge that might be 

 obtained ; for any increase of knowledge that might thus 

 be acquired was not to be locked up in the institution or 

 preserved only for the use of the citizens of Washington, 

 or persons who might visit the institution. It was by the 

 express terms of the trust, which the United States was 

 pledged to execute, to be difl'used among men. This could 

 be done in no other way than by publications at the expense 

 of the institution. IS^or has Congress prescribed the sums 

 which shall be appropriated to these different objects. It is 

 left to the discretion and judgment of the regents. 



