738 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



stimulating interest in the institution in different portions 

 of the country ; but men are selected whom Professor Henry 

 and his associates in that institution deem competent to 

 decide in regard to the particular scientific investigations 

 which it may be desired to make. For instance, my dis- 

 tinguished friend from Tennessee [Mr. May nurd"] proposed 

 the name of Professor Snell, of Amherst College, in place 

 of the late Professor Agassiz. Professor Snell, of Amherst 

 College, is one of the most eminent scholars of my State ; 

 a pure, earnest, modest devotee of learning, who has made 

 a thousand contributions to science, from which he has re- 

 ceived no benefit. But Professor SnelPs life has been de- 

 voted to the investigation of optics, magnetism, and certain 

 branches of natural science, which are also the special pur- 

 suits of Professor Henry, the secretary and director of tin- 

 institution; and it is not important, therefore, to add at this 

 moment to the force of the Smithsonian Institution another 

 gentleman who will be an authority on matters of opti -, 

 magnetism, galvanism, &c. But one thing on which Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz, just deceased, was the great authority in this 

 country and the world, was natural history, including the 

 growth of animals, the origin of species, the growth of 

 plants, of trees, &c., and this is a matter in regard to which 

 the science of the world is especially busying itself at the 

 present time, and of a knowledge of which the practical 

 need of this country is the greatest- 



The prairie lands of the Northwest, which lie between 

 the dense settlements of the Atlantic and the Pacific, are 

 in need of the scientific information as my friend [Mr. 

 Kelley] who does me the honor to listen to me, knows very 

 well which may cover those lauds with forests, with shade- 

 trees, with vegetation. Professor Gray is, perhaps, the 

 freatest authority in the world on that special mutter. Now, 

 ow idle, how unwise, it would be for the members of this 

 House to say that, because Colorado or Wyoming are to be 

 represented on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, they may appoint some man from those Terri- 

 tories rather than appoint Professor Gray, the greatest au- 

 thority on this question. He happened to reside at Cam- 

 bridge in his youth and in the time of his early studies. 

 The libraries and scientific apparatus which \vere necessary 

 for the prosecution of his studies in that department of 

 science were there. So in the case of Professor Dana. I 

 suppose any California gentleman on this floor will agree 

 that no man has been so great a benefactor to the develop- 

 ment of the mineral resources of the State of California as 



