1847] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 281 



learned societies in every language. These are the original 

 sources from which the most important principles of the 

 positive knowledge of our day have been drawn. We shall 

 also require a collection of the most important current litera- 

 ture and science for the use of the collaborators of the reports; 

 most of these however will be procured in the exchange for 

 the publications of the Institution, and therefore will draw 

 but little from the library fund. 



The collections of the Institution, as far as possible, should 

 consist of such articles as are not elsewhere to be found in 

 this country, so that the visitors at Washington may see new 

 objects, and the spirit of the plan be kept up, of interesting 

 the greatest possible number of individuals. A perfect col- 

 lection of all objects of nature and of art, if such could be 

 obtained and deposited in one place, would form a museum 

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

 bequest which can be devoted to the increase and mainten- 

 ance 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 establishing and 

 supporting a general collection of objects of nature and art 

 at the seat of the General Government, with funds not de- 

 rived 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 published 

 in the Contributions, and to establish their correctness ; 

 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 investigations un- 

 dertaken by the Institution. 



Much popular interest may be awakened in favor of the 

 Institution at Washington b)^ throwing the rooms of the 

 building open on stated evenings during the session of Con- 

 gress for literary and scientific assemblies, after the manner 

 of the weekly meetings of the Royal Institution in London. 



