740 COI^GRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



the aboriginal settlers of the country. That paper was pub- 

 lished at the expense of the Smithsonian Institute; and 

 now letters come from all parts of Europe testif3'ing to the 

 appreciation of the scientific world of that paper published 

 by the Smithsonian Institute. Now, the man who is to 

 pronounce upon the character of a publication, or upon the 

 propriety of an examination, should be the best authority 

 upon that special question in the country. 



Mr. Maynard. I desire, in the first place, to make a 

 verbal correction. My friend from Massachusetts has fallen 

 into a common error in speaking of this establishment as 

 the " Smithsonian Institute." James Smithson,who founded 

 it, called it the " Smithsonian Institution." 



Mr. G. F. Hoar. I am much obliged to the gentleman 

 for that correction ; and now will the gentleman be kind 

 enough to state to the House, with regard to the gentleman 

 whose name he proposes, what special branch of science he 

 has devoted himself to ? I am not myself as familiar with 

 his labors as perhaps I ought to be. 



Mr. Matnard. I listened to the gentleman from Massa- 

 chusetts with great pleasure and instruction, as I always do. 

 We can best ascertain the character of the regency of the 

 Smithsonian Institution by giving the names and residences 

 of those who recently constituted it. They are, Louis Agassiz, 

 a citizen of Massachusetts ; Theodore D. Woolsey, a citizen 

 of Connecticut; William B. Astor, a citizen of New York; 

 Peter Parker and William T. Sherman, citizens of Wash- 

 ington ; and John Maclean, a citizen of New Jersey. All 

 of these gentlemen, it will be seen, come within the category 

 of the gentleman from Massachusetts ; but the time has not 

 yet come, and I trust it never may come, when the scientific 

 talent of the country will be confined within a limited area. 



The gentlemen proposed are all distinguished, and I did 

 not predicate my motion upon any unfitness, suggested or 

 implied, or intended to be understood, in reference to the 

 superior fitness of any one of them. I suggested what 

 seemed to me to be a better and wiser administration of this 

 great public trust — a trust committed to us in the presence 

 of the civilized world, and for the wise administration of 

 which we stand conspicuously responsible. My suggestion is 

 that we should select the regency from difierent portions of 

 the land, so as to represent the vast geography of the whole 

 country. The gentleman from Massachusetts asks me what 

 have been the distinguishing studies and the character of 

 the intellectual labors of the eminent gentleman whose name 

 I have ventured to mention — a divine of eminence in the 



