PKOPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 881 



ized man of this age and the men of Europe five hundred 

 years ago. 



It is for these reasons that I object to the course of educa- 

 tion as it exists among us. If it were not for the danger of 

 being misunderstood I would go more at large into this 

 matter. It is not a desire to limit instruction, but to enlarge 

 it — to o;ive it a bent more suitable to the wants of the asre. 

 I am not seeking to depreciate the value of any species of 

 learning, but to point out what is most congenial to the 

 j)resent position of mankind. I am not seeking to disparage 

 the rights of any nation — to cast slight on any forms of 

 study — but to find out ways for the more rapid and energetic 

 development of human thought, and to assert the majesty 



OF HUMAN INTELLECT. 



If you read over the papers of the late Mr. Smithson — of 

 which you have published a list — you will see there these 

 same feelings in strong relief. His fancy did not riot iu 

 scenes of mere imagination, but took hold of things of prac- 

 tical utility. It was the spirit of the school of Bacon that 

 was in him, that taught him to investigate with equal zeal, 

 experimentally, the original formation of the earth, or the best 

 method of burning an oil-lamp, or the mode of retaining 

 the aroma in coffee. Through the course of a long life he 

 gave these pursuits the preference; for, as he says, "he was 

 convinced that it is in his knowledge that man has found his 

 greatness and his happiness — the high superiority he holds 

 over the other animals which inhabit the earth with him, 

 and consequently that no ignorance is without loss to him — 

 no error without evil." 



An institution of the first class will, in process of time, 

 without doubt, exist in the United States. The wealth of 

 the country could without difficulty procure extensive libra- 

 ries and museums, mineralogical cabinets, chemical labora- 

 tories, botanical gardens, astronomical observatories, zo- 

 ological menageries. These, and many more such things, 

 are essential requisites in a school of that stamp. But where 

 the means we possess are limited — and it is doubtful whether 

 or not Congress is prepared to make munificent grants — it 

 is better so to shape the action on Mr. Sraithson's bequest 

 that his institute may be the germ, which, as time goes on, 

 may develop itself and expand at last into a j^ational Uni- 

 versity. 



I have been connected with two different institutions, such 



as are here referred to, in different capacities, and have 



marked the course of events with them. Their funds at 



the outset have been lavished in erecting magnificent struc- 



56 



