952 PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S BEQUEST. 



Contributions will thus form the most befitting monument 

 to perpetuate the name of one whose life was devoted to 

 tho increase of knowledge, and whose ruling passion, strong 

 in death, prompted the noble bequest intended to facilitate 

 the labors of others in the same pursuit. 



Again, the publication of a series of volumes of original 

 memoirs will afford to the institution the most ready menus 

 of entering into friendly relations and correspondence with 

 all the learned societies in the world, and of enriching its 

 library with their current transactions and proceedings. But 

 perhaps the most important effect of the plan will be that 

 of giving to the world many valuable memoirs, which, on 

 account^of the expense of the illustrations, could not be 

 otherwise published. Every one who adds new and im- 

 portant truths to the existing stock of knowledge must be, 

 of necessity, to a certain degree, in advance of his age. 

 Hence the number of readers and purchasers of a work is 

 generally in the inverse ratio of its intrinsic value; and 

 consequently, authors of the highest rank of merit are fre- 

 quently deterred from giving their productions to the world 

 on account of the pecuniary loss to which the publication 

 would subject them. When our lamented countryman, 

 Bowditch, contemplated publishing his Commentary on La 

 Place, he assembled his family and informed them that the 

 execution, of this design would sacrifice one-third of his 

 fortune, and that it was proper his heirs should be con- 

 sulted on a subject which so nearly concerned them. The 

 answer was worthy the children of such a father: "We 

 value," said they, "your reputation more than your money." 

 Fortunately, in this instance, the means of making such a 

 sacrifice existed; otherwise one of the proudest monuments 

 of American science could not have been given to the 

 world. In the majority of cases, however, those who are 

 most capable of extending human knowledge are least able 

 to incur the expense of the publication. Wilson, the Amer- 

 ican ornithologist, states, in a letter to Michaux, that he has 

 sacrificed everything to publish his work: "I have issued." 

 he says, "six volumes, and am engaged on the seventh, but 

 as yet I have not received a single cent of the proceeds." 

 In an address on the subject of natural history, by one of 

 our most active cultivators of this branch of knowledge, we 

 find the following remarks, which are directly in point: 

 "Few are acquainted with the fact that from the small 

 number of scientific works sold, and the great expense of 

 plates, our naturalists not only are not paid for their labors, 

 but suffer pecuniary loss from their publications. Several 



