THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-1855. 495 



The memorial of the Smithsonian Institution, asking for permission 

 to invest a portion of the fund saved in the construction of the build- 

 ing, for which purpose it had been appropriated, suggested to the joint 

 committee inquiries as to the probable demands which would be made 

 upon the income of the Institution; and that led to a further inquiry as 

 to the legitimate objects for expenditure. These inquiries could only 

 be answered by a recurrence to the will of the distinguished testator; and 

 if that should be less explicit in any particular than would be desirable, 

 then a recurrence could be had to the well-established facts of his 

 life, and the special objects which he pursued in his devotion to sci- 

 ence; and the end which he proposed in his pursuits while alive, and 

 the special directions of his estate after the death of the person to 

 whom was bequeathed a life use of his property. 



Committees of Congress have several times presented statements of 

 the objects of Mr. Smithson's bequest to the Government of the United 

 States in trust, and their opinion of the mode in which these objects 

 should be attained, and proceedings have been had, founded on the 

 acts of Congress, that have been consequent upon these reports. And 

 the Institution has been established, and been made most beneficially 

 operative by a "direction," which has been careful to administer its 

 affairs in the spirit of Congressional enactments. 



The Smithsonian Institution, however, is unique in its character, 

 and it is brought into action at a time when science is advancing 

 beyond all precedent, and when the learned and the scientific of the 

 Old World are demanding from the United States not merely a sympa- 

 thy in their labors, but a contribution to the amount of knowledge and 

 science with which the world has alread} T been enriched. 



With the constant demands upon the Institution, and the constant 

 efforts to respond to these demands, it is not strange that it should be 

 found occasionally necessary to inquire whether its administration is 

 maintained with a constant e}~e to that progression which the advance- 

 ment of science renders necessary, and whether every plan which was 

 hesitatingly but carefully adopted in the establishment of the Institu- 

 tion is productive of the exact result which was contemplated on its 

 formation, and whether any of its minor divisions impinge upon the 

 more important branches, and thus diminish the means of usefulness 

 on the whole, and delay the attainment of these objects, which are 

 properly the end of the great establishment. 



To judge correctly of such matters it is not only necessary to know 

 what has been done by the Institution, but what was the plan of those 

 by whom it was inaugurated, and especially it is important to com- 

 pare the proceedings of the Institution with the will of its testator, 

 and to ascertain whether what he proposed has been in any degree 

 attained, and whether all has been done that the means supplied would 

 allow, and whether the plans for future action are in direct conformity 



