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tlemen invited, as a general rule, have been men of high standing, and have 

 been chosen on account of their reputation and moral worth, rather than 

 with reference to their proficiency in the art of rhetoric. It is not the aim 

 of the Institution in these lectures merely to please the ear, but to impart 

 important truths which may be valued for their own sake. 



Many applications have been made for the use of the lecture-room of the 

 Institution for pay lectures and exhibitions of a private character, but these 

 have in all cases been refused. The use of the room has, however, on seve- 

 ral occasions been given to the faculty of Columbia College, and also for 

 the meetings of the Teacher's Association of the District of Columbia. 

 The organization of this association took place in the Smithsonian building 

 in 1850, and its meetings have been regularly held in the lecture-room from 

 that time to the present. It is believed that the spirit of the will of Smith- 

 son is properly consulted, in giving encouragement and rendering facilities 

 to these meetings. The association has been kept up with much spirit, and 

 I am sure that much good has resulted from the organization. It has 

 served to cherish a feeling of harmony among the teachers, and to awaken 

 a spirit of improvement relative to education and general knowledge. 



The following is a list of the titles of lectures given before the Institution 

 during the last session of Congress, with the names of the gentlemen by 

 whom they were delivered : 



A course of six lectures on History as a science, and a single one on Poetry, by Dr. 

 Samuel H. Cox, of Brooklyn, New York. 



Two lectures on Induction and Association, by Dr. John Ludlow, Provost of the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania. 



A course of five lectures on Entomology, and one on the Alps, by Rev. Dr. John G. 

 Morris, of Baltimore, Maryland. 



Two lectures on the History and the Forms of the English Language, by Professor W. C 

 Fowler, of Amherst, Massachusetts. 



One lecture on the Architecture of the Middle Ages, by Dr. A. H. Vinton, of Boston. 



Two lectures by Professor S. S. Haldeman, of Columbia, Pennsylvania, on the Mechanism 

 of Speech, and its bearing upon the natural history of the human race. 



Two lectures on Geology, by Dr. Benjamin Silliman, Sr., of Yale College, New Haven. 



