THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-1855. 557 



man's sight; not richer than the stone beneath our feet, on which is written the history 

 of the world; than the leaf of the forest, on which is inscribed the thought of its 

 Creator; or than the cloud, in the lightnings of which the laws and the glory of God 

 are as distinctly revealed to the faithful of the present generation as they were upon 

 Mount Sinai. 



The valuable contributions t<j knowledge which have already been made by the 

 Smithsonian Institution are a living proof that vast libraries are not necessary to the 

 development of new thoughts. If you will compare these memoirs with the scientific 

 productions of the same period in Europe you ma}^ find them, perchance, inferior in 

 erudition, but not in profoundness and originality of thought. Do you believe that 

 Smithson, who was himself engaged in chemical investigations, could have intended 

 a library by his words "an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 

 among men? ' ' If you will examine his nine memoirs to the Royal Society, of which 

 he was an active member, and his eighteen other contributions to science, you will 

 ■ not find one of them which required a library for its production. Each was the 

 natural growth of a deejilj^ thinking mind. Smithson was emphatically a maker, and 

 not a collector of books ; and in the scientific circle to which he belonged the ordinary 

 use of language would have totally precluded the interpretation which some men of 

 quite a different cast of mind have presumed to impose upon his words. Expand his 

 largeness of expression to its utmost extent, include in it all that a generous mind 

 like his own would desire it to embrace; but let it not be cramped and twisted out of 

 shape, and so forced from its original design that it shall wholly fail to accomplish 

 the object of the munificent testator. 



Most earnestly, then, in the name of science, and especially of American science, 

 do I jirotest against such a gross perversion of this important trust. I assure you, sir, 

 that the great body of scientific men throughout the country warmly approve Professor 

 Henry's plan of conducting the Smithsonian Institution, and regard it as a faithful 

 exponent of the almost undivided opinion of scientific and learned men as to the 

 proper execution of Smithson' s will and of the law of Congress. 



March 3, 1855 — House. 



Mr. C. W. Upham. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the nnanimous con- 

 sent of the House for leave, in this connection, to submit a report 

 and accompanying papers from the select committee raised to investi- 

 gate the management and condition of the Smithsonian Institution.^ 

 There was no objection, and the report was received. 

 Mr. Upham. A minority report will be submitted; and I move 

 that both reports be laid upon the table and ordered to be printed. 

 Agreed to. 



Report made by Mr. Charles W. Upham, of Massachusetts. 

 The select committee of the House of Representatives to whom were 

 referred the letter of the Hon. Rufus Choate resigning his place as 

 a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, with instructions to inquire 

 and report to the House whether the Smithsonian Institution has 

 been managed and its funds expended in accordance with the law 

 establishing the Institution and whether any additional legislation 

 be necessary to carry out the designs of the founder; the memorial 



' ]Mr. C. W. Upham only signed this report. Mr. W. H. "Witte and Mr. X. G. 

 Taylor submitted another report, and ]\Ir. R. C. Puryear and ]\Ir. Daniel Wells 

 declined to sign either. 



