718 



CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Ill addition to the foregoing, $125,000 have been expended 

 since the fire in 1865 on that part of the buikling required 

 for the accommodation of the museum, the interest on 

 which, at six per cent., woukl be $7,500 annually. 



The bequest to found this institution was from a foreigner 

 who never visited the United States. He bequeathed his 

 fortune with unreserved confidence to our Government for 

 the advancement of science, to which he had devoted his 

 own life. The sacredness of the trust is enhanced from the 

 fact that it was accepted after the death of him by whom it 

 was confided. The only indications of his intentions which 

 we possess are expressed in the terms of his will. It there- 

 fore became of the first importance that the import of these 

 terms should be critically analyzed and the logical infer- 

 ence from them faithfully observed. The whole is con- 

 tained in these few and explicit words : 



" To found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men." 



These terms have a strictly scientific import, and are sus- 

 ceptible of a series of definite propositions. 



First. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind ; not to 

 be confined to one country, to one race, but to all men of 

 all complexions. 



Second. The objects of the institution are primarily to in- 

 crease, and secondly, to dift'use knowledge among men, and 

 these objects should not be confounded with each other. 



The will makes no restriction of any kind of knowledge, 

 hence, every branch of science capable of advancement is 

 entitled to a share of attention. 



Though the terms of the will are explicit and convey 

 precise scientific ideas to those who are acquainted with 

 their technical significance, yet to the public generally they 

 might seem to admit of a greater latitude of construction 

 than has been put upon them. It is, therefore, not sur- 

 prising that at the commencement, improper conceptions of 

 the nature of the bequest should have been entertained or 

 that Congress in the act of organization should direct the 

 prosecution of objects incompatible with the strict inter- 

 pretation of it or to impose burdens upon the institution 

 tending materially to affect its usefulness. 



Theprincipal of such burdens was the direction to pro- 

 vide a building on an ample scale to make provision for the 

 accommodation of the collections of Government, consist- 

 ing of all the specimens of nature and art then in the city 



