6 REPOBT OF THE ACTING SECRETAnY. 



three persons of such great distinction as were called to the responsi- 

 ble position of Secretary. 



When James Smithson bequeathed his fortune to the United States 

 of America to found at Washington an institution for the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge among men, he left the broadest direction 

 possible for the establishment of an institution of learning. He 

 placed no restrictions whatever upon the means or methods which 

 the United States might use in carrying out his noble idea. It is 

 clear, however, that he had in mind that concrete means must be 

 employed for accomplishing the purpose of his bequest, and this 

 was the judgment of the Members of Congress for a period of ten 

 years, while the subject of the Smithsonian bequest was under dis- 

 cussion, and of all the distinguished scientific men and educators 

 whose views were sought prior to final action by the National Legis- 

 lature. So broad was the idea that it required to be interpreted and 

 defined lest the energies exercised under the fund be scattered in 

 many directions and prove wasteful and ineffective. As long as the 

 two purposes were kept in mind, namely, to increase the sum total 

 of human knowledge and to spread it abroad, the objects of the be- 

 quest were being accomplished. 



Congress in the act of foundation directed that the sum of nearly a 

 quarter of a million of dollars of interest, which had accrued since the 

 receipt of the bequest, be appropriated for the erection of a suitable 

 building, at once giving to the new institution a local habitation 

 and a name, and it prescribed, moreover, to what purposes this 

 building should be put — a museum, a chemical laboratory, a library, 

 a gallery of art, and lecture rooms. The law at once stamped the 

 Institution with a national character by declaring that for exhibition 

 in this building there be delivered over to the Institution all museum 

 objects belonging to the United States which were in the city of 

 Washington, and made the Institution coequal with the Library 

 of Congress in the matter of receiving copyright books, engravings, 

 and other articles. This act, however, comprehensive as it was, 

 required further interpretation, and in addition to the purposes 

 so clearly set forth it was decided to offer prizes for original 

 memoirs, to make grants for special objects of research, and to 

 diffuse knowledge b}^ publishing a series of reports giving an account 

 of new discoveries in science as well as separate treatises on subjects 

 of general interest. 



In brief, the new institution was to take upon itself the functions 

 of a great museum representing the sciences, the arts, and the indus- 

 tries; a gallery of art; a library; an academy stimulating research 

 and issuing publications, and a publishing house for the populari- 

 zation of knowledge, and all these upon an income of what was tlien 



