4 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



therefore, should not be merged in any establishment of the government, 

 but should stand isolated, free to the unobstructed observation of the 

 whole world, keeping in per tual remembrauce the will of its founder. 



The functions of the Institution and the Museum are entirely differ- 

 ent; those of the Institution being — first, to enlarge the bounds of 

 human thought by assisting men of science to make original investi- 

 gations in all branches of knowledge, to publish these at the expense 

 of the Smithson fundi and to present copies of them to all the principal 

 libraries of the world ; second, to institute investigations in various 

 branches of science and explorations for the collection of specimens in 

 natural history and ethnology to be distributed to museums and" other 

 establishments; third, to diffuse knowledge by carrying on an extended 

 international series of exchanges by which the accounts of all the orig- 

 inal researches in science, the educational progress, and the general 

 advance of civilization in the New World are exchanged for similar 

 works of the Old World. To carry out this plan the Institution requires 

 no costly building, but merely accommodations for receiving and dis- 

 tributing its collections. 



The Museum, on the other hand, is intended to embrace a collec- 

 tion of specimens of nature and art which shall exhibit the natural 

 resources and industries of the country, or to present at one view the 

 materials essential to the condition of high civilization which exists in 

 the different States of the American Union ; to show the various pro- 

 cesses of manufacture which have been adopted by us, as well as those 

 used in foreign countries ; in short, to form a great educational estab- 

 lishment by means of which the inhabitants of our own country, as well 

 as those of foreign lands who visit our shores, may be informed as to 

 the means which exist in the United States for the enjoyment of human 

 life in the present, and the improvement of these means in the future. . 



The support of such an establishment must, of necessity, be derived 

 from Congress, and no part of the income of the Smithson fund should 

 be devoted to this purpose, since it is evident from the will of Smithson 

 that he intended his benefaction for the good of mankind, and therefore 

 all expenditures on local objects, or even on those limited to the United 

 States, are not in conformity with the intentions of the donor. A very 

 objectionable result of the present connection of the two establishments 

 is the necessity for the Institution to appeal to Congress annually for an 

 appropriation for the support of the Museum, whereby the Institution is 

 X>resented to the world as a suppliant for aid, although, for carrying out 

 the legitimate objects of the bequest, no annual appropriation from the 

 public Treasury is necessary. 



The whole of the Smithsonian building is now required for the National 

 Museum, and, in case of the separation, a new building should be provided 

 for the accommodation of the Institution; and when the financial con- 

 dition of the country shall be better, I trust the sense of justice of the 

 people of the United States will induce Congress to restore to the funds 



