45 

 THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 



LETTER No. X. 



HHfe WASHINGTON, February 10, 1844. 



MESSRS. EDITORS : Those of your readers who honor my lucubra- 

 tions with a perusal, by reference to my second letter will find that 

 I then dwelt briefly upon the history of the National Institute, and 

 urged its claims upon public notice and encouragement. I now 

 return to the subject, and shall devote the present number to a 

 further discussion of this important and interesting question. 



The habitual readers of your columns cannot fail being struck 

 with the frequent and often very able and instructive articles to 

 which you give admittance, under the head of " National Institute 

 Papers," containing correspondence from every section of the globe, 

 and accompanying valuable and interesting donations to the cabi- 

 net of the association. This fact speaks for itself. It proves that 

 its members are active in the march of improvement, and that the 

 Institute is proud of being the channel through which so much in- 

 formation is given to the public. That these contributions to 

 knowledge will go on increasing, with the increase and prosperity 

 of the Institute, cannot be doubted. That its means of instruction 

 and usefulness may be so increased and enlarged should be the 

 wish of every intelligent citizen, and with that wish should be ex- 

 hibited an active co-operation and efficient assistance, in the cause 

 of science and human knowledge, of which the Institute now stands 

 so much in need. 



Let us lend an ear and our favorable attention to the strong and 

 eloquent appeal of the Hon. JOSEPH R. INGERSOLL, of Philadelphia, 

 who, in his preamble to the proceedings of the Board of Manage- 

 ment of the National Institute, held at the office of the Secretary 

 of State, on the 23d December of the last year, uses the following 

 words: " A monthly record of contributions reflects honor upon the 

 ' kindness and public spirit of the donors, whose numbers are daily 

 ' increasing, and whose good will knows no bounds. But the proof 

 ' of their taste and kind feeling are imperfectly provided for, and 

 ' sometimes altogether neglected, from the narrow fortunes of the 

 ' infant establishment. There is no ascertained place of permanent 

 ' or even secure deposite. There is no fund from which supplies, 

 ' in any degree proportioned to daily necessities, can be derived. A 



