120 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



my attempting this. Many of the suggestions have been offered by 

 different persons, independently of each other ; and, indeed, the general 

 plan of the increase and diffusion of knowledge, as adopted by the 

 Board, is such as would naturally arise in the mind of any person con- 

 versant with the history of physical science, and with the means usually 

 employed for its extension and diffusion. 



The introduction to the programme contains a series of propositions, 

 suggested by a critical examination of the will of Smithson, to serve as 

 a guide in judging of the fitness of any proposed plan for carrying out 

 the design of the testator. The first section of the programme gives 

 the details of the plan proposed for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge by means of publication and original researches. The second 

 section furnishes the details, so far as they can be made out at the pres- 

 ent time, of the formation of a library, and a collection of objects of 

 nature and art. These two plans combined, embrace the general prop- 

 ositions adopted by the Board of Regents at their last meeting as the 

 basis of future operations. It is intended in the proposed plan to har- 

 monize the two modes of increasing and diffusing knowledge, and to 

 give to the Institution the widest influence compatible, with its limited 

 income. That all the propositions will meet with general approval can- 

 not be expected; and that this organization is the best that could be de- 

 vised is neither asserted nor believed. To produce a 'priori a plan of 

 organization which shall be found to succeed perfectly in practice, and 

 require no amendment, would be difficult under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances, and becomes almost impossible where conflicting opinions 

 are to be harmonized, and the definite requirements of the act estab- 

 lishing the Institution are to be observed. It is not intended that the 

 details of the organization, as given in the programme, should be per- 

 manently adopted without careful trial ; they are rather presented as 

 sugcestions to be adopted provisionally, and to be carried into opera- 

 te a gradually and cautiously, with such changes, from time to time, as 

 experience may dictate. 



PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



[Presented to the Board of Regents, December 8, 1847.] 



INTRODUCTION. 



General considerations which should serve as a guide in adopting a plan of 



organization. 



1. Will of Smithson. The property is bequeathed to the United 

 States of America, "to found at Washington, under the name of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men." 



2. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind. The government of 

 the United States is merely a trustee to carry out the design of the 

 testator. 



3. The Institution is not a national establishment, as is frequently 



