REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 
But, although greatly to be regretted on account of the losses in- 
curred, the accident is not without compensation in considerations of 
a different nature ; thus, it has served to call forth the expression of 
a large amount of kind feeling in regard to the Institution, to direct 
the attention of Congress to the character and importance of its opera- 
tions, and has thus, perhaps, furnished the opportunity of remedying 
some of the defects in the original law of its organization, which were 
the result of the novelty of the enterprise or the desire of reconciling 
inconsistent propositions. Immediately after the fire, as is well 
known to the Board, a committee of the two houses of Congress was 
appointed to inquire into its origin, the loss sustained, the means 
necessary to repair the building, and to collect such facts in connex- 
ion with the whole subject as might be of public interest. This 
committee, after adopting the report of the special committee of the 
Board* as to the origin of the fire, called upon the Secretary for a 
detailed statement of the origin and objects of the Institution and of 
its operations from the beginning, in connexion with the policy of 
the Regents and his own superintendence of its affairs. 
In pursuance of this request I submitted to the committee a gen- 
eral review of the more prominent facts connected with the adoption 
of the plan of organization, and of what has been since accomplished 
towards realizing the views of the founder and the wishes of the 
friends of the Institution. Although this review may give facts 
familiar to some of the members of the Board and to those who 
have directed any special attention to the history of the estab- 
lishment, it may weil be inferred from occasional remarks, not only 
in the journals of the day, but on the floor of Congress, that there 
is no little need of the repetition of statements tending to correct 
misconceptions which arise, no doubt, much oftener from inattention 
than from prejudice. It is for this reason, and to keep before the 
public mind distinct ideas of the character and operations of the In- 
stitution, that I append, as the concluding portion of this report, the 
statement, somewhat expanded in the introduction, which I had the 
honor of laying before the Joint Committee of Congress. 
SKETCH OF THE ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF THE INSTITUTION. 
The founder of this Institution, James Smithson, was a graduate of 
the University of Oxford, devoted during a long life to the advance- 
ment of science, and the author of a number of original contributions 
to geology, chemistry, mineralogy, &c. He was well acquainted with 
* See proceedings of the Board. 
358 
