32 The Smithsonian Institution 



tion was determined upon, although at each session of Con- 

 gress the President urged prompt action. Though at the 

 time the delay seemed irksome, no one can doubt that it was 

 in the end advantageous. At first the importance of the 

 occasion was not fully appreciated, and the projects pre- 

 sented were limited in scope. Suggestions were offered by 

 a large number of persons, and almost every suggestion was 

 embodied in one or more of the bills which were brought up 

 for discussion during this formative period. The broad and 

 liberal plan at last adopted was the result of a process of 

 selection by which unworthy features were thrown out, and 

 only those retained which commended themselves to the 

 wisdom of an intelligent majority. 



When the subject was first considered in the Senate, it 

 seems to have been generally believed that the intention of 

 the testator was to establish a university, and this was the 

 preference of those to whom, in July, 1838, the Secretary of 

 State, by direction of the President, addressed letters asking 

 advice in regard to the proper application of the bequest. 1 

 Seven communications elicited by this invitation were under 

 consideration in 1838, and of these, five favored a school 

 corresponding to what would now be called a postgraduate 

 university. Doctor Wayland suggested an institution which 

 should occupy " the space between the close of a collegiate 

 education and a professional school"; Doctor Cooper, "an 

 institution of the character of a university," open only to 

 graduates of other colleges; and President Chapin, of Colum- 

 bian University, "an institution for liberal and professional 

 purposes and for the promotion of original investigations 

 to carry through a range of studies much above those of the 

 ordinary collegiate course." Professor Dunglison, of the Uni- 



1 The persons addressed were the Honor- of South Carolina ; the Honorable Richard 

 able John Quincy Adams, ex-President; Rush; Doctor Francis Wayland, President 

 Thomas Cooper, M. D., of the University of Brown University; and others. 



