17*2 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



The following is the memorial of Prof. Walter R. Johnson : 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, 



in Congress assembled. . 



The memorial of the undersigned, a citizen of the United 

 States, respectfully represents 



That, having been for many years devoted to the invest!} 

 gation and elucidation of those departments of science 

 which pertain to the practice of the useful arts; and hav- i 

 ing, as he conceives, witnessed on various occasions the 

 serious detriment which the public interest has suffered 

 from the want of a national institution to encourage and 

 facilitate the cultivation of those departments of knowledge 

 on which these arts are founded, he has at this time ven- 

 tured to present himself as a memorialist before your 

 honorable bodies, and to ask permission to set forth the 

 importance and necessity of such an institution to the coun- 

 try, and its claims to the countenance of the (-Jovcrnment 

 of the United States. 



In a clear comprehension of the internal resources of the 

 country, the whole nation possesses a deep and a growing 

 interest; and in those vast portions of territory constituting 

 the public domain, the Government has a stake of immense 

 magnitude. But great as these interests are, and much as 

 they demand the services of men professionally devoted to 

 their elucidation, the United States as yet possess no insti- 

 tution appropriated to the lormation of those habits, and 

 the acquisition of that skill which might insure the success 

 of such researches. 



The want of an institution for these purposes is daily 

 rendered more striking, in proportion as the enterprise of 

 our citizens is enlarged, and as a reliance on our own 

 resources becomes the more obviously necessary. But the 

 determination of the value of the natural resources of the 

 country is far from being the only motive for the establish- 

 ment of an institution for prosecuting researches in phys- 

 ical science. Those resources require to be applied and 

 improved, as well as discovered and described. 



A further purpose, therefore, to be effected by such an 

 institution is the enlarging of those resources, by the intro- 

 duction of improvements in agriculture, and by naturaliz- 

 ing the productions of other climates to the soil of our 

 widely extended territory the encouraging of those arts 

 which are essential to our national prosperity and independ- 

 ence the diffusing of important information respecting the 

 commercial value of our different resources the examin- 

 ing of questions in every department of physical research, 



