PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 945 



Congress establishing the institution. These are a library, a museum, and a 

 gallery of art, with a building on a liberal scale to contain them. 



SECTION I. 



Plan of organization of the institution, in accordance with the foregoing 

 deductions from the will of Smithson. 



To INCREASE KNOWEDGE. It is proposed 



1. To stimulate men of talent to make original researches, by offering 

 suitable rewards for memoirs containing new truths ; and, 



2. To appropriate annually a portion of the income for particular re- 

 searches, under the direction of suitable persons. 



To DIFFUSE KNOWLEDGE. It is proposed 



1. To publish a series of periodical reports on the progress of the different 

 branches of knowledge ; and, 



2. To publish occasionally separate treatises on subjects of general in- 

 terest. 



DETAILS OF THE PLAN TO INCREASE KNOWLEDGE. 



I. By stimulating researches. 



1. Eewards, consisting of money, medals, &c., offered for original me- 

 moirs on all branches of knowledge. 



2. The memoirs thus obtained to be published in a series of volumes, in 

 a quarto form, and entitled " Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge." 



3. No memoir, on subjects of physical science, to be accepted for publica- 

 tion, which does not furnish a positive addition to human knowledge resting 

 on original research ; and all unverified speculations to be rejected. 



4. Each memoir presented to the institution to be submitted for examina- 

 tion to a commission of persons of reputation for learning in the branch to 

 which the memoir pertains, and to be accepted for publication only in case 

 the report of this commission is favorable. 



5. The commission to be chosen by the officers of the institution, and the 

 name of the author, as far as practicable, concealed, unless a favorable deci- 

 sion be made. 



6. The volumes of the memoirs to be exchanged for the Transactions of 

 literary and scientific societies, and copies to be given to all the colleges and 

 principal libraries in this country. One part of the remaining copies may 

 be offered for sale ; and the other carefully preserved, to form complete sets 

 of the volumes, to supply the demand from new institutions. 



7. An abstract, or popular account, of the contents of these memoirs to 

 be given to the public through the annual report of the Regents to Congress. 



II. By appropriating a portion of the income, annually, to special objects 

 of research, under the direction of suitable' persons. 



1. The objects, and the amount appropriated, to be recommended by 

 counsellors of the institution. 



2. Appropriations in different years to different objects; so that in course 

 of time, each branch of knowledge may receive a share. 



3. The results obtained from these appropriations to be published, with the 

 memoirs before mentioned, in the volumes of the Smithsonian Contributions 

 to Knowledge. 



4. Examples of objects for which appropriations may be made. 



(1.) System of extended meteorological observations, for solving the 

 problem of American storms. 



(2.) Explorations in descriptive natural history, and geological, mag- 

 nctical and topographical surveys, to collect materials for the formation of 

 a Physical Atlas of the United States. 



(3.) Solution of experimental problems, such as a new determination of 



