THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 127 



of his writings will show that he excluded from his own studies no 

 branch of general knowledge, and that he was fully impressed with the 

 important philosophical fact, that all subjects of human thought relate 

 to one great system of truth. To restrict, therefore, the operations ol 

 the Institution to a single science or art, would do injustice to the char- 

 acter of the donor, as well as to the cause of general knowledge. If 

 preference is to be given to any branches of research, it should be to 

 the higher, and apparently more abstract ; to the discovery of new 

 principles, rather than of isolated facts. And this is true even in a 

 practical point of view. Agriculture would have forever remained an 

 empirical art, had it not been for the light shed upon it by the atomic 

 theory of chemistry ; and incomparably more is to be expected as to its 

 future advancement from the perfection of the microscope, than from 

 improvements in the ordinary instruments of husbandry. 



The plan of increasing and diffusing knowledge, presented in the first 

 section of the programme, will be found in strict accordance with the 

 several propositions deduced from the will of Smithson, and given in 

 the introduction. It embraces, as a leading feature, the design of 

 interesting the greatest number of individuals in the operations of the 

 Institution, and of spreading its influence as widely as possible. It forms 

 an active organization, exciting all to make original researches who are 

 gifted with the necessary power, and diffusing a kind of knowledge, 

 now only accessible to the few, among all those who are willing to 

 receive it. In this country, though many excel in the application of 

 science to the practical arts of life, few devote themselves to discon- 

 tinued labor and patient thought necessary to the discovery and devel- 

 opment of new truths. The principal cause of this want of attention 

 to original research is the want, not of proper means, %it of proper 

 encouragement. The publication of original memoirs and periodical 

 reports, as contemplated by the programme, will act as a powerful 

 stimulus on the latent talent of our country, by placing in bold relief the 

 real laborers in the field of original research, while it will afford the best 

 materials for the use of those engaged in the diffusion of knowledge. 



The advantages which will accrue from the plan of publishing the 

 volumes of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge are various. 

 In the first place, it will serve to render the name of the founder favor- 

 ably known wherever literature and science are cultivated, and to keep 

 it in continual remembrance with each succeeding volume, as long as 

 knowledge is valued. A single new truth, first given to the world 

 through these volumes, will forever stamp their character as a work of 

 reference. The Contributions will thus form the most befitting monu- 

 ment to perpetuate the name of one whose life Was devoted to the 

 increase of knowledge, and whose ruling passion, strong in death, 

 prompted the noble bequest intended to facilitate the labors of others 

 in the same pursuit. 



Again: the publication of a series of volumes of original memoirs 

 will afford to the Institution the most ready means of entering into 

 friendly relations and correspondence with all the learned societies in 

 the world, and of enriching its library with their current transactions 

 and proceedings. But perhaps the most important effect of the plan 

 will be that of giving to the world many valuable memoirs, which, on 



