DISCOURSE OF W. B. TAYLOR: NOTES. 401 



To DIFFUSE KNOWLEDGE. It is proposed 1. To publish a 

 series of periodical reports on the progress of the different branches 

 of knowledge; and, 2. To publish occasionally separate treatises 

 on subjects of general interest. 



DETAILS OF THE PLAN TO INCREASE KNOWLEDGE. 



I. By stimulating researches. 1. Facilities afforded for the pro- 

 duction of original memoirs on all branches of knowledge. 2. The 

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

 quarto form, and entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 



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

 publication which does not furnish a positive addition to human 

 knowledge, resting on original research ; and all unverified specula- 

 tions to be rejected. * 4. 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. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. 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. By appropriating a part 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 coun- 

 sellors of the Institution. 2. Appropriations in different years to 

 different objects; so that in course of time each branch of knowl- 

 edge 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. 



4. Examples of objects for which appropriations may be made : 



*"It has been supposed from the adoption of this proposition, that we are dis- 

 posed to undervalue abstract speculation : on the contrary, we know that all the 

 advances in true science, (namely a knowledge of the laws of phenomena,) are 

 made by provisionally adopting well-conditioned hypotheses, the product of the 

 imagination, and subsequently verifying them by an appeal to experiment and 

 observation." (Explanations of the programme.) 

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