1853] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 307 



with superstitious observances of the most ridiculous and 

 inconvenient character. A knowledge of principles serves 

 to eliminate these errors, to point out the necessary and es- 

 sential conditions of practice, and to facilitate the introduc- 

 tion of improved methods. On the other hand, every im- 

 provement in the mechanic arts, as a general rule, tends to 

 elevate the character of the artisan, and to render his em- 

 ployment more intellectual. 



It is proposed in this Institute to improve the workman 

 by lectures, collections of specimens of natural history, a 

 library and a reading-room, and to advance the arts by ex- 

 hibitions and by the examination of such new inventions as 

 may be submitted to the judgment of the Institute. For 

 conducting this part of the plan of operation a permanent 

 Committee of Science and Arts will be formed, combining 

 (among its members) theoretical knowledge with practical 

 skill. 



There is no place in the United States (taking in view the 

 number of its mechanics) so well adapted to support an effi- 

 cient institution of this kind as the city of Washington. It 

 offers numerous examples of ingenious inventions and pro- 

 cesses. The models of the Patent Office, the instruments of 

 the Observatory, of the Coast Survey, of the Topographical 

 Bureau ; the processes of the navy-yard and of the arsenal 

 are illustrations of the useful arts readily accessible and of 

 the most instructive kind. Moreover, no city of the Union 

 of the same size can command so large a number of scien- 

 tific men, namely, those belonging to the army and the navy, 

 and the institutions established here. Any association which 

 tends to bring these into harmonious co-operation with the 

 practical mechanics of the place may, and I doubt not will, 

 be productive of important results. 



The Institute has commenced its existence under very 

 auspicious circumstances, and has found favor with the wise 

 and the liberal. Notwithstanding this, the enterprise is not 

 unfraught with danger, and those who were instrumental in 

 establishing it assumed a responsibility of no small weight. 

 They evoked a power which may be determined on good or 



