19 



* ington, and one or more inhabitants of the District of Columbia, to be 

 ' incorporated as trustees of the Smithsonian fund, with a secretary and 

 c treasurer in one person, and to be the only salaried person of the 

 ' board ; to be appointed for four years, and be capable of reappoint- 

 < ment, but removable for adequate cause by a majority of the Board." 



The letter concludes with the recommendation of a National Obser- 

 vatory as a part of the plan proposed, with which, I am sorry to say, I 

 do not agree, (meaning to express my difference from the venerable 

 writer in all deference,) and for the reason that, as the National Depot 

 of Charts and Instruments, or National Observatory, and the observatory 

 at Georgetown College, both of which will be soon ready for use, will 

 answer the wants of the community in astronomy and the sciences 

 therewith connected, I do not see why the fund should be taken from 

 other important objects by any appropriation of the kind. I trust, how- 

 ever, that Mr. Adams has changed his views on this point since the 

 establishment of the two above mentioned institutions in this District. 



Professor Way land, who was also applied to on the subject at the 

 same time, in his letter of October 2, 1838, proposed a "National Uni- 

 versity," occupying the space between the close of a collegiate educa- 

 tion and a professional school ; that there should be public lectures on 

 Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and the Oriental languages; that all the modern 

 languages of any use to the scholar should be taught; astronomy, engi- 

 neering, civil and military ; the art of war, beginning where it is left off 

 at West Point; chemistry, geology, mining, music, and poetry; politi- 

 cal economy, intellectual philosophy, physiology, vegetable and animal ; 

 anatomy, human, comparative ; history, the laws of nations and the 

 general principles of law, the Constitution of the United States. 



The young men to provide for themselves board and lodging, and 

 the professors to be responsible only for their education. The funds to 

 be devoted as follows : 



1st. A part to the creation of a library, cabinets, and furnishing ap- 

 paratus necessary to the instructors. 



2d. A part to the erection of buildings for the above purposes, together 

 with buildings for professors' houses. 



3d. A fund should be established for the endowment of professor- 

 ships, giving to each so much as may form a portion, say one-third or 

 one-half of his living, and the rest to be provided for by the sale of the 

 tickets to his course. 



For the other details of this valuable letter, I refer the reader to the 

 document itself. 



