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THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 37 



officer, more probably than on any one other act of the Board, will depend the 

 future good name, and success, and usefulness of the Smithsonian Institution." 



One of the first resolutions adopted by the Board of Regents was the following : 



^^ Resolved, That it is essential for the advancement of the proper interests of 

 the trust, that the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution be a man possessing 

 weight of character, and a high grade of talent ; and that it is further desirable 

 that he possess eminent scientific and general attainments ; that he be a man 

 capable of advancing science and promoting letters by original research and effort, 

 well qualified to act as a respected channel of communication between the Insti- 

 tution and scientific and literary individuals and societies in this and foreign 

 countries : and, in a word, a man worthy to represent, before the world of science 

 and of letters, the Institution over which this Beard presides." 



It was with these feelings and opinions that the Board of Regents selected 

 Professor Joseph Henry, of the College of New Jersey, Princeton, to fill the 

 office of Secretary. He accepted the appointment, entered at once upon his labo- 

 rious and responsible duties, and has since given to them all his time and 

 thoughts. 



The views he held were not at first generally understood, but they are now 

 appreciated and concurred in by those who have examined the subject, and who 

 believe that Smithson did not intend to limit the influence of his bequest to one 

 locality or nation, but designed, as is well expressed in the words of John Quincy 

 Adams, '' to spread the benefits to he derived from the Institution not only over 

 the whole surface of this Union, hut throughout the civilized world." 



Ii]c Si^oi|j]S^. 



The grounds around the building were laid out by the distinguished horticul- 

 turist and landscape gardener. Downing, but he died while engaged in the prose- 

 cution of his plans. 



"We are indebted to the editor of the " Rural New Yorker," for the following 

 remarks relative to this subject, and for the representation of the marble monu- 

 ment recently erected to his memory : 



When the sad tidings of the death of Andrew Jackson Downing was announced, 

 many hearts were stricken, and many countenances saddened. Every lover of rural 

 life and rural taste, felt that a friend, a brother, and a leader had fallen. The homes 

 of hundreds, from the foundation stone to the gable point, spoke of the departed — 

 even the trees and flowers of the garden, told a tale of sadness. The furniture in 

 our parlors, the books in our libraries, spoke too plainly to our wounded hearts 

 of the loved and lost. Scarcely a city or village in our country but presented 

 some monument of his skill and taste, something to remind the people how great 

 and irreparable was their loss — cottages whose simple yet elegant adornings taught 

 how truly taste may be independent of wealth ; windows tempting the eye from 

 loveliness within, to the glorious prospect without ; stately trees that seemed to 

 guard like tientincls the sacred precincts of home, and village churches whose walls 



