PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 907 



laboring at the various subdivisions and branches of knowl- 

 edge here, at the common center of the Republic, we should 

 have the entire tree, in perennial verdure, accessible to all 

 who might desire to participate in the pleasures and beneiits 

 afforded by its flowers and its fruits. Every terrestial object 

 interesting to man would here be submitted to the examina- 

 tion of his senses, and rendered intelligible to his under- 

 standing; and every citizen whose taste or talents fitted him 

 for the acquisition, instead of wandering at the peril of life 

 and limb in the pursuit, would here find the elements of 

 knowledge, drawn from every region of the globe, and 

 adapted to his use, in the very bosom of his native land. 

 And this, let me add, is in my opinion the true method for 

 diffusing knowledge among men. Present the inducements, 

 furnish the means, point out the way, and then leave the 

 student to gain the prize by the efforts of his own talents 

 and industry. 



The ordinary practice of attempting to force indiscrimi- 

 nately upon the minds of pupils a determinate portion of 

 school learning is something like the process of drenching 

 a juvenile patient with the unpalatable prescriptions of the 

 doctor. It may be beneficial, and sometimes indispensable, 

 but the medicine is apt to be rejected, and is almost inva- 

 riably recollected with loathing. Yet, when the sufferer has 

 acquired a proper sense of his condition, and comprehends 

 the necessity of the case, he seeks a remedy with eagerness, 

 and applies it without the slightest regard to any unpleasant 

 contingencies. Instead, then, of merely adding to the num- 

 ber of seminaries for the indiscriminate infliction upon the 

 young of certain prescribed doses of learning, I would estab- 

 lish our Smithsonian Institution as a great national warehouse 

 of knowledge, where everyone might find something suited 

 to his wants, and to which he could freely resort whenever 

 he became conscious of his necessities. 



I would, however, provide one or more suitable persons, 

 in the character of curators, who should be competent to 

 expound the principles of arrangement, to elucidate what- 

 ever might be obscure, and, generally, to facilitate the te- 

 searches of all who might require assistance. More ex- 

 tensive or direct means of instruction, if found expedient, 

 could at any time be provided. 



For the general direction and management of the estab- 

 lishment there is, happily, also on the spot an organized 

 body of the most respectable character, well fitted, and no 

 doubt cheerfully prepared, to discharge the duty. A '■'•Na- 

 tional Institute for the Promotion of Science^' has been recently 



