300 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX No. 1265 



star, by all means, in horticulture, but do 

 not lose sight of either the wagon or the 

 star. 



Are you really interested in this work — 

 in some phase of horticulture ? If you are 

 not, I commiserate you on the time you have 

 spent at this school; if you are, I am glad 

 to extend to you the most hearty congratu- 

 lations and good wishes on the completion 

 of your course here, and the commencement 

 of the larger and more serious work upon 

 which you are about to enter. 



C. Stuart Gager 

 Brooklyn Botanic Garden 



LETTER ON THE SMITHSONIAN 

 INSTITUTION! 



BY THE LATE PROFESSOR LOUIS AGASSIZ 



Addressed to the Honorahle Charles W. Upham 

 Dear Sir, — Every scientific man in this coun- 

 try has been ■watching with intense interest the 

 proceedings of the Smithsonian Institution 

 ever since its foundation, satisfied, as all m.ust 

 be, that upon its prosperity the progress of 

 science in America in a very great measure 

 depends. The controversies which have been 

 lately carried on respecting the management 

 of the institution have increased the solicitude 

 of its friends with regard to its future pros- 

 pects in a degree which can hardly be realized 

 by those who are not immediately connected 

 with the cause of science. 



As a foreigner, who has enjoyed but for a 

 few years the privilege of adding his small 

 share to support the powerful impulse which 

 scientific investigations have lately received 

 from those who are the native representatives 

 of science in America, I have thus far ab- 

 stained from taking any part in this discus- 

 sion, for fear of being charged with meddling 

 with matters in which I have no concern. 

 There is, however, one feature of the institu- 

 tion itself, which may, I trust, justify the step 

 1 From Canadian Journal, Vol. III., 1854 and 

 1855, pp. 216-217, ia the April number for 1855. 

 containing Proceedings of the Canadian Institute. 

 Communieated by Dr. Otto Klotz, Dominion Ob- 

 servatory, Ottawa, Canada. 



I have taken in addressing you upon this sub- 

 ject as the chairman of the committee elected 

 by the House of Representatives to investigate 

 the proceedings of that establishment. 



With the exception of a few indirect allu- 

 sions, I do not see that any reference is made 

 in the discussion now going on to the indis- 

 puta;ble fact that the Smithsonian Institution 

 is not an American institution. It was orig- 

 inated by the liberality of a high-minded Eng- 

 lish gentleman, intrusting his fortune to the 

 United States to found in Washington an in- 

 stitution to increase and diffuse knowledge 

 among men. America, in accepting the trust, 

 has obtained the exclusive management of the 

 most imi>ortant and the most richly endowed 

 scientific institution in the world: but it is at 

 the same time responsible to the scientific 

 world at large for the successful prosecution 

 of the object of the trust, which is to increase 

 and diffuse knowledge among men. 



Were it not for this universal character of 

 the institution, I would not think it becoming 

 in me to offer any suggestion with regard to it. 

 As it is, I feel a double interest in its pros- 

 perity — ^in the first place, as an institution 

 designed to foster the process of science at 

 large, a,nd without reference to nationalities or 

 local interests, and next, as more immediately 

 connected with the advancement of science in 

 the country of my adoption. 



The votaries of science may differ in their 

 views about the best means of advancing sci- 

 ence, according to the progress they have them- 

 selves made in its prosecution ; but there is one 

 standard of appreciation which can not fail to 

 guide rightly those who would form a candid 

 opinion about it. I mean the lives of those 

 who have most extensively contributed in en- 

 larging the boundaries of knowledge. 



There are two individuals who may, without 

 qualification, be considered the most promi- 

 nent scientific men of the nineteenth century — 

 Cuvier and Humboldt. By what means have 

 they given such powerful impulse to science? 

 How have they succeeded not only in increas- 

 ing the amount of knowledge of their age, but 

 also in founding new branches of science? 

 It is by their own publications and by aiding 



