THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS, 1853-55. 587" 



dation, satisfied, as all must be, that upon its prosperity, the progress of 

 science in America depends in a very great measure. 



u The controversies which have lately been carried on respecting the 

 management of the institution have increased the solicitude of its friends 

 with regard to its future prospects in a degree which can hardly be real- 

 ized by those who are not immediately connected with the great cause of 

 science." * * * * 



" The votaries of science may diifer in their views about the best means 

 of advancing science, according to the progress they have themselves made 

 in its prosecution ; but there is one standard of appreciation which cannot 

 fail to 'guide rightly those who would form a candid opinion about it. I 

 mean the life of those who have most extensively contributed in enlarging 

 the boundaries of knowledge. There are two individuals who may, with- 

 out qualification, be considered as the most prominent scientific men of the 

 nineteenth century, Cuvier and Humboldt. By what means have they 

 given such a powerful impulse to science? How have they succeeded, not 

 only in increasing the amount of knowledge of their age, but also in found- 

 ing new branches of science? It is by their own publications and by aid- 

 ing in the publications of others; by making large collections of specimens 

 and other scientific apparatus, and not by the accumulation of large libra- 

 ries. Humboldt never owned a 'book, not even a copy of his own works, 

 as I know from his own lips. ' He was too poor,' he once said to me ' to 

 secure a copy of them,' and all the works he receives constantly from his 

 scientific friends and admirers are distributed by him to needy students. 

 Again, there is hardly a scientific man living on the continent of Europe 

 who is not indebted to him for some recommendation in the proper quarters 

 for assistance in the publication of their works. I mention, more particu- 

 ularly, these details about Humboldt, because he is happily still among the 

 living, and his testimony may be asked in a matter of such deep import- 

 ance to the real progress of science. But the same is equally true of the 

 part Cuvier took, in his day, in promoting science. All his efforts were 

 constantly turned towards increasing the collections of the Jardin des 

 Piantes and supporting the publication of original researches, giving him- 

 self the example of the most untiring activity in publishing his own. In 

 this connection I ought not to omit mentioning a circumstance to which 

 the United States owe the legacy of Smithson, which I happen accidentally 

 to know, and which is much to the point in reference to the controversy 

 concerning the management of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithson 

 had already made his will, and had left his fortune to the Royal Society of 

 London, when certain scientific papers were offered to that learned body 

 for publication. Notwithstanding his efforts to have them published in 

 their Transactions, they were refused, upon which he changed his will r 

 and made his bequest to the United States. It would be easy to collect in 

 London more minute information upon this occurrence, and should it ap- 

 pear desirable, I think I can put the committee in the way of learning all 

 the circumstances. Nothing seems to indicate more plainly what were the 

 testator's views respecting the best means of promoting science than this 

 fact. 



" I will not denv the great importance of libraries ; and no one has felt 

 more keenly the Want of an extensive scientific library than I have since I 

 have been in the United States ; but, after all, libraries are only tools of a 

 secondary value to those who are really endowed by nature with the power 

 of making original researches, and thus increasing knowledge among men. 

 And though the absence or deficiencies of libraries is nowhere so deeply 

 felt as in America, the application of the funds of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion to the formation of a library beyond the requirements of the dally prog- 

 ress of science, would only be, in my humble opinion, a perversion of the 

 real object of the trust, inasmuch as it would tend to secure facilities only 

 to the comparatively small number of American students who may have 

 the time and the means to visit Washington whenever they need to consult 



