PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION OF THE SMITHSO- 

 NIAN INSTITUTION. 



[Presented to the Board of Regents, December 8, 1847.] 



BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH HENRY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



General considerations which should serve as a guide in adopting a plan of 



organization. 



1. WILL OF SMITHSON. The property is bequeathed to the United States 

 of America, "to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 

 among men." 



2. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind. The government of tho 

 United States is merely a trustee to carry out the design of the testator. 



3. The institution is not a national establishment, as is frequently sup- 

 posed, but the establishment of an individual, and is to bear and perpetuate 

 his name. 



4. The objects of the institution are 1st, to increase, and 2d, to diffuse 

 knowledge among men. 



6. These two objects should not be confounded with one another. The 

 first is to increase the existing stock of knowledge by the addition of now 

 truths ; and the second to disseminate knowledge, thus increased, among 

 men. 



6. The will makes no restriction in favor of any particular kind of 

 knowledge ; hence all branches are entitled to a share of attention. 



7. Knowledge can be increased by different methods of facilitating and 

 promoting the discovery of new truths, and can be most efficiently diffused 

 among men by means of the press. 



8. To effect the greatest amount of good, the organization should be such 

 as to enable the institution to produce results in the way of increasing and 

 diffusing knowledge, which cannot be produced by the existing institutions 

 in our country. 



9. The organization should also be such as can be adopted provisionally, 

 can be easily reduced to practice, receive modifications, or be abandoned, in 

 whole or in part, without a sacrifice of the funds. 



10. In order to make up for the loss of time occasioned by the delay of 

 eight years in establishing the institution, a considerable portion of the in- 

 terest which has accrued should be added to the principal. 



11. In proportion to the wide fields of knowledge to be cultivated, the 

 funds are small. Economy should therefore be consulted in the construc- 

 tion of the building; and not only should the first cost of the edifice be 

 considered, but also the continual expense of keeping it in repair, and of the 

 support of the establishment necessarily connected with it. There should 

 also be but few individuals permanently supported by the institution. 



12. The plan and dimensions of the building should be determined by the 

 plan of organization, and not the converse. 



13. It should be recollected that mankind in general are to be benefited 

 by the bequest, and that, therefore, all unnecessary expenditure on local 

 objects would be a perversion of the trust. 



14. Besides the foregoing considerations, deduced immediately from the 

 will of Smithson, regard must be had to certain requirements of the act of 



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