PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 911 



of human knowledge by new discoveries in science, as the 

 wider diffusion of that which is ah'eady in possession of the 

 race — the increase of knowledge among the millions by diffusion^ 

 the increase of the millions who know. He did not design to 

 put men upon the search of undiscovered truths, to augment 

 the scientific stores of some future Newton, Porson, or La 

 Place, but to call into existence a system of expedients to 

 spread knowledge and equalize its advantages. 



Fourthly. By the "knowledge" to be diffused he must 

 have intended, not the simple elements taught in primary 

 schools; not the recondite lore of the higher seminaries, 

 for which the millions have no leisure; not the dogmata of 

 theology, which it is the business of the Church to teach, but 

 secular knowledge, adapted to the continued education of manhood, 

 suited to the wants of the millions and not otherwise adequately 

 provided for — knowledge touching their business, their interests, 

 their social duties and political rights. 



On all these points gentlemen have fallen into error. The 

 word institution seems to call up in their minds all the insti- 

 tutions of civilization where know^ledge is to be acquired, 

 and the new desideratum they propose to form by combining 

 them together. Instead of planning an institution for the 

 benefit of the millians, they devise one for the benefit of the 

 graduates of colleges, members of Congress, and gentlemen 

 of leisure. Instead of diffusing knowledge, they concen- 

 trate it at Washington. 



The main object of Mr. Smithson 7nust have been the 

 diffusion of truth. An institution for the discovery of new 

 truths, and one for the diffusion of old ones, must of necessity 

 difler widely in their plan and details. He said nothing of 

 two distinct institutions, but of one only. If he intended 

 the first, he must have been insane. An institution incor- 

 porated at Washington to make scientific discoveries, or to 

 pick up diamonds on the Rocky Mountains, would be an 

 absurdity. Men do not find planets or diamonds because 

 they are incorporated for that purpose. But an institution 

 for "the diffusion of knowledge among men" has a definite 

 and practicable object, fraught with certain and substantial 

 benefits to mankind, and the conception of such a scheme 

 evinces both the wisdom and philanthropy of the testator. 



But allowing that the increase of the sum of human 

 knowledge was intended by him, I think he would not have 

 advised the appointment of half a dozen men to take their 

 daily rounds through a library of 500,000 volumes, a garden 

 of 500,000 plants, and a cabinet of 500,000 curiosities, as 

 the means of attaining that object. The most direct way 



