966 LETTERS ON PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION. 



" 1. Rewards consisting of money, medals, &c., oflered for original 

 memoirs on all branches of knowledge. 



" 2. The memoirs thus obtained to be published in a series of volumes in 

 a quarto form, and entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 



" 3. No memoir, on subjects of physical science, to bo accepted for pub- 

 lication which does not furnish a positive addition to human knowledge ; 

 and all unverified speculations to be rejected. 



" 4. Each memoir presented to the Institution to be submitted for exami- 

 nation to a commission of persons of reputation for learning in the branch 

 to which the memoir pertains, and to bo accepted for publication only in 

 case the report of this commission is favorable. 



<' 5. The commission to bo chosen by the officers of the Institution, and 

 the name of the author, as far as practicable, concealed until a favorable^ 

 decision shall have been made. 



" 6. The volumes of the memoirs to be exchanged for the transactions of 

 all literary and scientific societies, and copies to be given to all the colleges 

 and principal libraries in this country. One part of the remaining copies 

 may be offered for sale ; and the other carefully preserved, to form complete 

 sets of the work, to supply the demand from new institutions. 



" 7. An abstract or popular account of tho contents of these memoirs 

 should bo given to tho public through the annual report of the Regents to 

 Congress. 



"II. By appropriaiing a portion of the income annually to special objects 

 of research, under the direction of suitable persons. 



" 1. The objects and the amount appropriated to be recommended by 

 Counsellors of the Institution. 



" 2. Appropriation in different years to different objects ; so that in course- 

 of time each branch of knowledge may receive a share. 



" 3. The results obtained from these appropriations to be published with 

 the memoirs before mentioned in the volumes of the Smithsonian Contribu- 

 tions to Knowledge. 



" 4. Examples of objects for which appropriations may be made : — 



"(1.) System of extended Meteorological Observations for solving the 

 problem of American Storms. 



"(2.) Geological, Magnetical, and Topographical surveys to colle-^t 

 materials for the formation of a Physical Atlas of tho United States. 



"(3.) Solution of experimental problems; such as weighing the earth; 

 new determination of the velocity of electricity and of light ; chemical 

 analysis of soils and plants ; collection and publication of articles of science, 

 accumulated in tho offices of Government. 



•' (4.) Institution of statistical inquiries with reference to physical, moral^ 

 and political subjects. 



" (5.) Historical researches and accurate surveys of places celebrated ia 

 history. 



" (6.) Ethnological researches, particularly with reference to the present 

 races of men in North Americn ; also explorations and accurate surveys of 

 the mounds and other remain? of the ancient people of our country." 



The committee have made this long extract from Professor Henry's Pro- 

 gramme, in order to give to the Academy an adequate idea of the proposed 

 plan, as far as it refers to the first brancli, or tho Increase of Knowledge. 

 It has, in some of its features, been already adopted. It is already an- 

 nounced that one voluminous memoir, copiously illustrated by engravings, 

 is already on its passage through the press, under tho auspices of tho Smith- 

 sonian Institution. The committee refer to an elaborate memoir by Messrs. 

 Squior and Davis, on the aboriginal mounds discovered in large numbers 

 in various parts of the United States, and especially in tho region north- 

 west of the Ohio. This memoir was accepted on the favorable report of 

 the Ethnological Society of New York, to which it has been referred by 

 the Secretary of the Institution, and in whose Transactions an abridgment 

 of it has appeared. It is also understood that a memoir on one of th» 



