940 PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 



For the procurement of chemical and philosophical appa- 

 ratus, models, &c., your committee recommend, for the 

 present, an appropriation of four thousand dollars. If the 

 funds permit, four thousand dollars more, your committee 

 think, might profitably be appropriated for this object 

 before the opening of the institution. 



Before concluding their report, your committee desire to 

 add a few words touching the duty and qualifications of one 

 of the ofiicers of the institution. 



Inasmuch as the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, being a regent, can receive no salary for his services, 

 it results, almost necessarily, that the Secretary should 

 become its chief executive officer. The charter seems to 

 have intended that he should occupy a very responsible po- 

 sition; granting, as it does, to the Secretary, in conjunction 

 with the Chancellor, the power to determine the necessity, 

 and the amount, of appropriations made for the purposes of 

 the institution. 



The office of Secretary must, in the opinion of your com- 

 mittee, be regarded, not as one to be filled by any man 

 capable to act as recording clerk, or to receive, with polite- 

 ness, the visitors of the institution, or to reply, with me- 

 chanical propriety, to its correspondents ; but as an office 

 on the due administration of which the executive efficiency 

 of our institution at home and its reputation abroad, mainly 

 depend; an office, then, demanding, in its incumbent, 

 weight of character and a high grade of talent. 



To secure such stamp of talent as your committee con- 

 sider essential in a Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 it may be necessary to attach to the office a considerable 

 salary. The best talent, in any country, ever commands a 

 high remuneration; and though money cannot always com- 

 mand talent, it is, as a general rule, one of the elements 

 necessary to obtain it. Inadequate character and qualifica- 

 tions are not worth purchasing, at any rate, no matter how 

 low. The money spent to procure them is utterly cast 

 away. 



Your committee think it would be an advantage if a 

 competent Secretary could be found, combining also the 

 qualifications of a professor of the highest standing in some 

 branch of science. If to these be added efficiency as an 

 executive officer and a knowledge of the world, we may 

 hope to see filling this distinguished post a man, who, when 

 brought into communication with distinguished men and 

 societies in this and other countries, shall be capable, as 

 representative of the Smithsonian Institution, to reflect 



