DISCOURSE OF W. B. TAYLOR: NOTES. 409 



support. It is not our purpose to enumerate all the claims which 

 the Secretary elect has on the literary community. We have said 

 enough to show that in discharging the responsible duty of this 

 appointment, the Regents have looked with a single eye to the 

 purposes of the munificent testator, the advancement of knowledge 

 among men." * 



Note J. (From p. 276.) 



Perhaps no better inside view of Henry's primitive purpose can 

 be obtained, than from the following private and unpublished letter 

 to his personal friend President Nott, of Union College, Schenec- 

 tady, N. Y. written during a visit to Princeton, very shortly after 

 his election and removal to Washington: 



"PRINCETON, December 26th, 1846. 



"MY DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 9th came to Princeton 

 while I was at Washington, and I now answer it as soon as possible 

 after my return. Please accept my thanks for your kind congratu- 

 lations on my appointment to the office of Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. I am not sure however that my appointment 

 will prove a subject of congratulation. The office is one which I 

 have by no means coveted, and which I have accepted at the earnest 

 solicitation of some of the friends of science in our country, to pre- 

 vent its falling into worse hands, and with the hope of saving the 

 noble bequest of Smithson from being squandered on chimerical or 

 unworthy projects. My first object is to urge on the Regents the 

 adoption of a simple practical plan of carrying out the design of 

 the Testator, viz: the " increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men." For this purpose in my opinion the organization of the 

 Institution should be such as to stimulate original research in all 

 branches of knowledge, in every part of our country and through- 

 out the world, and also to provide the means of diffusing at stated 

 periods an account of the progress of general knowledge compiled 

 from the Journals of all languages. To establish such an organi- 

 zation, I must endeavor to prevent expenditure of a large portion 

 of the funds of the Smithsonian bequest on a pile of brick and 

 mortar, filled with objects of curiosity, intended for the embel- 

 lishment of Washington, and the amusement of those who visit 

 that city. My object at present, is to prevent the adoption of plans 



* National Intelligencer, Washington, Dec. 5, 1846, vol. xxxiv. no. 10,541. 



