9b8 PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 



obtained and deposited in one place, Avould form a museum 

 of the highest interest; but the portion of the income of 

 the bequest wliich can be devoted to the increase and main- 

 tenance of the museum will be too small to warrant any 

 attempt toward an indiscriminate collection. It is hoped 

 that in due time other means may be found of establishino; 

 and supporting a general collection of objects of nature and 

 art at the seat of the General Government, with funds not 

 derived from the Smithsonian bequest. For the present it 

 should be the object of the institution to confine the appli- 

 cation of the funds, first, to such collections as will tend 

 to facilitate the study of the memoirs which may be pub- 

 lished in the Contributions, and to establish their correct- 

 ness; secondly, to the purchase of such objects as are not 

 generally known in this country, in the way of art and the 

 illustration of antiquities, such as models of buildings, &c.; 

 and, thirdly, to the formation of a collection of instruments 

 of physical research which will be required both in the 

 illustration of new physical truths and in the scientific in- 

 vestigations undertaken by the institution. 



Much popular interest ma}^ be awakened in favor of the 

 institution at Washington by throwing the rooms of the 

 building open on stated evenings durings the session of 

 Congress for literary and scientific assemblies, after the 

 manner of the weekly meetings of the Royal Institution in 

 London. At these meetings, without the formality of a 

 regular lecture, new truths in science may be illustrated 

 and new objects of art exhibited. Besides these, courses of 

 lectures may be given on particular subjects by the officers 

 of the institution, or by distinguished individuals invited for 

 the purpose. 



Appendix No. 1. 



Extract from a communication of Professor Jewctt^ Assistant Secretary of 

 the Institution, acting as librarian. 



My dear sir : As I do not expect to liave the pleasure of seeing you 

 again before the meeting of the regents, I will, with your indulgence, refer 

 to some of the principal matters which will require attention in commenc- 

 ing the library. They would no doubt all occur to you in their order, but 

 I have thought you might find it convenient to have this part of the busi- 

 ness in some degree prepared to your hands. A great deal of preparatory 

 work is to be gone through with, before any books can be placed on the 

 Bhelves. 



1. On the plan proposed for the library, it seems to me that the first 

 thing to be done is to make arrangements for obtaining catalogues, printed 

 or in manuscript, of the principal libraries of the United States ; to exam- 

 ine these libraries, as far as can be done personally, in order to know their 

 general character, the statistics of their increase, &c.; and to form such 



