REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 15 



Inspired l>y a belief in the future greatness of the new nation, realiz- 

 ing- that wliile the needs of Engkmd were well met by existing- organi- 

 zations such as would not be likely to sjidng np for many years in a 

 new, poor, and growing country, he founded in the new England an 

 institution of learning, the civilizing power of which has been of incal- 

 culable value. Who can attempt to say ^hat the condition of the 

 United States would have been to-day without this bequest? 



In the words of ,lohn (^>uiiu'y Adams: 



(If all the foundations of cstalilislimeiits for 2)ioitK or (lidrildliic hacs irhiih erer aiynal- 

 iscd the npirit of the aye or the coinprehensive hcnefu'eucv <f the founder, none can he 

 named more deserving the approbation of mankind. 



The most important service, by far, which the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion has rendered to the nation has been from year to year since 184G — 

 intangible but none the less a^jpreciable — by its constant cooperation 

 with the Government, public institutions, and individuals in every 

 enterprise, scientific or educational, which needed its advice, support, 

 or aid from its resources. 



There have been, however, material results of its activities, the 

 extent of Avhich can not fail to impress anyone who will look at them. 

 The most imi)ortant of these are the library and the Museum, which 

 have grown up under its fostering care. 



The Horary has been accumulated without aid from the Treasury of 

 the United States, It has, in fact, been the result of an extensive sys- 

 tem of exchanges, the publications of the Institution having been used 

 to obtain similar publications from institutions of learning in all parts 

 of the world. 



In return for its own publications the Instiiutioii has leceived the 

 books which form its library. 



This library, consisting of more than a quarter of a million volumes 

 and parts of volumes, has for over twenty years been deposited at the 

 Ca[)itol as a portion of the Congressional Library and is constantly 

 being increased. In the la.st fiscal year 37,982 titles were thus added 

 to the national collection of books. 



Chiefly through its exchange system the Smithsonian had in 1805 

 accumulated about 40,000 volumes, largely publications of learned 

 societies, containing the record of the actual progress of the world in 

 all that pertains to the mental and physical development of the human 

 family, and affording the means of tracing the history of at least every 

 branch of positive science since the days of re\ival of letters until the 

 present time. 



These books, iii nniny instances gifts from old European libraries, 

 and not to be obtained by purchase, formed even then one of the best 

 collections of the kind in the world. 



The warning given bj' the lire of that year, and the fact that the 

 greater portion of these volumes, being unl)ound and crowded into 

 insufficient s])ace, could not be readily consulted, while the expense to 



