1847] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 279 



that of affecting men in general by the operations of the 

 Institution, it is evident that the principal means of diffusing 

 knowledge must be the Press. Though lectures should be 

 given in the city in which Smithson has seen fit to direct 

 the establishment of his Institution, yet as a plan of general 

 diffusion of knowledge the system of lectures would be en- 

 tirely inadequate ; every village in our extended country 

 would have a right to demand a share of the benefit, and 

 the income of the Institution would be insufficient to sup- 

 ply a thousandth part of the demand. It is also evident 

 that the knowledge diffused should if possible not only 

 embrace all branches of general interest, so that each reader 

 might find a subject suited to his taste, but also that it 

 should differ in kind and quality from that which can be 

 readily obtained through the cheap publications of the day. 

 These requisites will be fully complied with in the publica- 

 tion of the series of reports proposed in the programme. 

 A series of periodicals of this kind, posting up all the dis- 

 coveries in science from time to time, and giving a well 

 digested account of all the important changes in the differ- 

 ent branches of knowledge is a desideratum in the English 

 language. The idea is borrowed from a partial plan of this 

 kind in operation in Sweden and Germany; and for an 

 example of what the work should be I would refer to the 

 annual report to the Swedish Academy of its perpetual 

 secretary, Berzelius, on physical science. The reports can 

 be so prepared as to be highly interesting to the general 

 reader and at the same time of great importance to the 

 exclusive cultivator of a particular branch of knowledge. 

 Full references should be given in foot-notes to the page, 

 number or volume of the work from which the information 

 was obtained, and where a more detailed account can be 

 found. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the prepara- 

 tion of these reports should be entrusted only to persons 

 profoundly acquainted with the subjects to which they re- 

 late — namely, to those who are devoted to particular 

 branches while they possess a knowledge of general prin- 

 ciples. Sufficient explanations should be introduced to 

 render the report intelligible to the general reader without 



