16 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



ceived ; for if, in attempting to increase and diffuse knowledge among 

 mankind, the machinery of the Institution's action has been such that 

 it has incideutally paid over to the Government the equivalent of much 

 more than the whole original fund, these facts should snrely be known 

 to those who have to ask themselves in what spirit as well as for what 

 purpose the Institution expends money placed in its charge. 



Professor Langley has pointed out that "although by the judicious 

 administration of the Smithson fund nearly a million and a half dollars — 

 the fruits of its investment — have been applied during the past forty 

 years to the advancement of science and education in America (in ad- 

 dition to the principal $703,000, larger now than ever before) it should 

 be remembered that the income of the Instiution is only $42,000 a year, 

 a sum much smaller in its power to effect results than ever in previous 

 years." , 



Can the United States fail to recognize its obligation to supplement 

 liberally this private contriburion for public good, especially if it be 

 born in mind that, as Professor Langley has recently shown, the Insti- 

 tution has left in perpetual charge of the nation, in the Museum alone, 

 property acquired out of its private fund (and to which it has appar- 

 ently the same title) which is probably now more than equal in value to 

 the whole amount of the Smithsonian bequest. 



THE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE MUSEUM. . 



The work of the Mnseum, if it only performed the functions of an 

 institution for scientific investigation, would be of sufficient value to 

 justify its maintenance and extension. 



As a matter of fact, it not only performs these functions but also does 

 a very great deal to render the resources of science available to the 

 public at large. 



Professor Huxley's definitionof a museum was that it is ''a consulta- 

 tive library of objects." 



The National Museum is a consultative library for the scientific man, 

 and it is something more. It aims to be an agency for the instruction 

 of the people of the whole country, and to keep especially in mind the 

 needs of those whose time is not devoted to the study of science. 



The spirit in which the work of the Museum is being carried on was 

 voiced in the address of one of its officers before the American Histori- 

 cal Association at its recent meeting in this city, in which it was said: 



(1) That publie institutions of this Mnd are not intended for the few, but 

 for the enlightenment and education of the masses. 



(2) That the public has a right to fitll participation in the results of the 

 worli of the scientific establishments ivhich they are helping to maintain. 



(3) That one of the chief duties of the officers of these instutions is to pro- 

 vide means by which such results may be presented in an attractive as tcell 

 as an intelligihlejorm. 



No scientific institution is more thoroughly committed to the work of 

 the diffusion of knowledge than is the Smithsonian Institution, and no 



