90 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



exhibitions, cannot be sustained. A successful fair must have a 

 responsible and recognized scientific body to direct and sustain 

 it, or the exhibition dwindles .into a mere show. The tendency 

 of any policy which would substantially restrict. the action of 

 the Institute to fairs would inevitably destroy the usefulness of 

 the exhibitions themselves, and ultimately convert the American 

 Institute into nothing more or less than a huge showman. A 

 constantly repeated exhibition of essentially similar objects is 

 not calculated to promote the cause of true industrial progress. 

 These repetitions cease to interest the public, and in order to 

 render the exhibition attractive, recourse must frequently be had 

 to extraneous means, often quite at variance with the dignity of 

 the Institute, and in the end calculated to retard rather than 

 stimulate the progress of mechanical development. 



Meritorious exhibitors and inventors do not enter their articles 

 or products for the medal or prize as for so much silver or value. 

 The medals and diplomas are contended for on account of their 

 moral power. They carry with them the proof that the article 

 exhibited had passed the ordeal of a body whose stamp and 

 indorsement fix its standard of value. The fairs of the Ameri- 

 can Institute are valuable as promoters of American skill and 

 industry, only in so far as the Institute has character and repu- 

 tation thus to establish the comparative value of competing 

 articles. 



Impressed with these views, I submit that the time has arrived 

 when it becomes the imperative duty of the Institute to aim at 

 such a position, among the scientific bodies of the day, as will 

 give to it, not only an elevated place, but such a distinctive 

 recognized character as will challenge attention and respect, and 

 will make it an acknowledged power throughout the land. Such 

 a position it is in the power of the Institute to take. The learn- 

 ing and the means at its command justify the public in expecting 

 it to take the first rank in those departments of science to which 

 it gives its attention. 



In order to the attainment of this end, I would respectfully sug- 

 gest, as the result of my careful consideration of the subject, that, 



I. It is a vital necessity that the Institute provide itself with 

 a permanent and central location. To the want of ownership of 

 a suitable building may unquestionably be attributed the aban- 

 donment of the repository, and the loss of many valuable models 

 and machines. 



