IV ADVERTISEMENT. 



DETAILS OF THE FIRST PART OF THE PLAN. 



I. To INCREASE KNOWLEDGE. It is proposed to stimulate research by offering 

 rewards for original memoirs on all subjects of investigation. 



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

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



2. No memoir on subjects of physical science to be accepted for publication 

 which does not famish a positive addition to human knowledge, resting on original 

 research; and all unverified speculations to be rejected. 



3. Each memoir presented to the Institution to be submitted for examination 

 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. 



4. 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 decision be 

 made. 



5. 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 work to supply 

 the demand from new institutions. 



6. 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. To INCREASE KNOWLEDGE. It is also proposed to appropriate 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 counsel- 

 lors 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. 



O 



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, mathematical, 

 and topographical surveys, to collect material for the formation of a physical atlas 

 of the United States. 



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

 weight of the earth, of the velocity of electricity, and of light; chemical analyses 



