1847] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 265 



can be most extensively diffused among men by means of 

 the press. 



8. To effect the greatest amount of good, the organization 

 should be such as to enable the Institution to produce re- 

 sults in the way of increasing and diffusing knowledge, 

 which cannot be produced either at all or so efficiently by 

 the existing institutions in our country. 



9. The organization should also be such as can be adopted 

 provisionally, can be easily reduced to practice, receive mod- 

 ifications, or be abandoned in whole or in part, without a 

 sacrifice of the funds. 



10. In order to compensate, in some measure, for the loss 

 of time occasioned by the delay of eight years in establish- 

 ing the Institution, a considerable portion of the interest 

 which has accrued should be added to the principal. 



11. In proportion to the wide field of knowledge to be cul- 

 tivated, the funds are small. Economy should therefore be 

 consulted in the construction of the building; and not only 

 the first cost of the edifice should be considered, but also the 

 continual expense of keeping it in repair, and of the support 

 of the establishment necessarily connected with it. There 

 should also be but few individuals permanently employed 

 by the Institution. 



12. The plan and dimensions of the building should be 

 determined by the plan of the organization, and not the 

 converse. 



13. It should be recollected that mankind in general are 

 to be benefited by the bequest, and that therefore all un- 

 necessary expenditure on local objects would be a perver- 

 sion of the trust. 



14. Besides the foregoing considerations, deduced imme- 

 diately from the will of Smithson, regard must be had to 

 certain requirements of the act of Congress establishing the 

 Institution. These are, a library, a museum, and a gallery 

 of art, with a building on a liberal scale to contain them. 



