THIETY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-1855. 497 



give imperishable distinction to his name, ''when the titles of Percy 

 and Northumberland are extinct." And the Smithsonian Institution, 

 in the city of Washington, is the means by which that distinction is to 

 be achieved and perpetuated. Such an end with such ample means 

 demanded appropriate administrations and suitable measures. 



It must l)e conceded that the plan of the Smithsonian Institution 

 must be of a character different from most others or it will only be a 

 rival of existing institutions; and the language of the testator is 

 explicit as it regards the character and objects of the institute which 

 he intended to found and endow. The object was "to found at Wash- 

 ington an establishment, under the name of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." 



The Government of the United States, in accepting the great trust 

 conferred, pledged itself to carry out the objects of the founder, to 

 administer the funds with a distinct reference to the requirements of 

 the will, and to keep the institute, which bears the name of the 

 founder, separate in all its relations from any and every other; to give 

 it a distinct and substantive existence, and insure independence and 

 efficiency to its operations. 



The distinction between the increase and the diffusion of knowledge 

 is real, and in the administration of the Smithsonian Institution is of 

 ver}^ great importance. 



We have, all around us, libraries and museums, by which what is 

 known of literature and science may be diffused, so far as the influ- 

 ence of those libraries and museums extends; but it can not be denied 

 that such an influence is necessarily quite limited. 



But the "increase of knowledge" is more dependent upon the 

 means of the promoters than their location, and the amount of valua- 

 ble contribution to any science must depend more upon the assurance 

 that the contributor can be requited for his time and labor than upon 

 any advantages of position; and it is eminently true that our country 

 abounds with men whose tastes and attainments lead them into a par- 

 ticular branch of moral or physical science, but whose ordinary pur- 

 suits do not allow them to extend their investigations into specialties, 

 so that large stores of knowledge often lie undeveloped in the mine of 

 science for want of some men of leisure to follow the drift and secure 

 the treasure. 



The Smithsonian Institution has already enal^led men of that class 

 and encouraged those of more fortunate condition to make investiga- 

 tions and to adduce results which the world of science has alreadv 

 confessed go to increase knowledge among men; and these contribu- 

 tions to the amount of knowledge, it is admitted, nmst have been 

 reserved at least for a future day had not the foresight of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution suggested and supplied means for the "increase," 

 H. Doc. 732^ 32 



