346 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



by able preceptors without essential interference with the calls of 

 domestic industry." This opinion is daily gaining strength, and has 

 been partially acted upon in several of the New England States. In 

 the city of New York, also, a small advance towards it has been already 

 made. Recently the board of trustees of the public schools in that city 

 adopted, among other resolutions, the following: 



Resolved, That a portion of time not exceeding one hour a week be appropriated to 

 employments incident to elementary instruction in subjects of natural science. 



In accordance with these gradually enlarging views, the course of 

 study of the New York State normal schools, as I learn by the printed 

 circular which I hold in my hand, embraces natural philosophy, chem- 

 istry, human physiology, histoiy, the elements of astronomy, etc., in 

 addition to the special lectures on the theory and practice of teaching. 

 These various advances, thus sanctioned by public opinion, indicate 

 that a normal department in the Smithsonian Institution, to be worthy 

 of the age, must include scientific courses by some of the ablest men 

 of the day. 



It is also by the bill specially made a part of the duty of these men 

 to institute scientific researches. In these, as we have seen, Smithson 

 spent the greater part of his life. And it can not be doubted that, 

 were he yet alive and here to-day to explain his wishes, original 

 researches in the exact sciences would be declared by him a part of 

 his plan. With the knowledge of his life and favorite pursuits before 

 us, and the words of his will specifying the increase as well as the 

 diffusion of knowledge for our guide, it seems nothing less than an 

 imperative duty to include scientific research among the objects of a 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



I said an imperative duty. Such is the nature of our obligation to 

 fulfil whatever we may fairly infer to have been Smithson's intentions. 

 This money is not ours; if it were, we might take counsel from our 

 own wishes and fancies in its appropriation; but it is merely intrusted 

 to us, and for a specific purpose. Mr. Adams, in his report made in 

 1840, well says: 



In the commission of every trust there is an implied tribute of the soul to the integ- 

 rity and intelligence of the trustee; and there is also an implied call for the faithful 

 exercise of these properties to the fulfilment of the purpose of the trust. The tribute 

 and the call acquire additional force and energy when the trust is committed for per- 

 formance after the decease of him by whom it is granted, when he no longer exists 

 to witness or to constrain the effective fulfilment of his design. 



And these considerations seem to me also conclusive against the 

 great library plan. In the first place, Smithson's own pursuits were 

 scientific, not antiquarian. In the second, had he desired merely to 

 found a library, it is reasonable to suppose he would have said so. 



The bill as reported to the House has been framed in that spirit of 

 compromise so necessary in this world of a thousand opinions. The 



