34 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Subsequently the "Mechanics' Club" was organized, under the 

 direction of the committee on manufactures, science and the arts. 

 As chemistry and physics soon claimed attention, it was found 

 expedient to give this club the more comprehensive name of 

 a " Polytechnic Association." The weekly proceedings of these 

 two branches of the Institute have steadily increased, until their 

 reports constitute more than nine-tenths of the annual volume of 

 Transactions. 



A new period in the affairs of the American Institute has now 

 arrived, which demands that it should keep pace wnth the spirit 

 of improvement now actuating not merely our own, but every 

 other enlightened nation. This spirit has prompted the expres- 

 sion from almost every member of our organization, that the 

 United States now requires a National Institute second to none in 

 the world; for the diffusion of information of a practical character 

 relatins: to a^riDulture, horticulture and the industrial arts gener- 

 ally, supported and directed by practical men, w^ith the aid of 

 scientists of high attainments, and that the American Institute of 

 the city of New York is legitimjitely entitled to such a position. 



The first question for consideration is, w^hat are the require- 

 ments of such an Institute ? and the second, how can the Ameri- 

 can Institute be placed in a position to answer all such require- 

 ments ? In reply to the first question, the general voice is that 

 such an organization should not aim at tiie diffusion of knowledge 

 of such an elementary character as to encroach on the province of 

 the schools and colleges of the land, but rather to limit its influ- 

 ence to those of mature years, and to disseminate among them the 

 results of experiments and experience relating to the arts, and the 

 reports of new discoveries in science, as well as all new inventions 

 tending to elevate the physical condition of man — in a word, to 

 keep American citizens throughly informed of the latest improve- 

 ments in all branches of technology. To accomplish this and 

 give the greatest efficacy to mental effort, such an Institute must 

 own and control a vast structure, suitable in dimensions and divi- 

 sions to all its varied wants, situated in a central and appropriate 

 locality, and of such architectural design as to be an ornament to 

 the city and an attraction to strangers. 



It should embrace a library, reading room, lecture rooms, a 

 repository for models of works of art, rooms for the special use of 

 its several standing committees on science and art, and lasth', but 

 most important of all, for the annual exposition of working 



