8 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



was first prevalent in this country that Smithson left his money merely 

 to diffuse practical knowledge among the people of the United States. 

 On the contrary he intended this institution as a monument to his name 

 which should be known of all men, and prized by the student ol every 

 branch of literature and science, which should not be restricted to merely 

 spreading abroad the knowledge which already exists, but, above all, 

 should be the means of enlarging the bounds of human thought. He 

 was also too much of a philosopher to confine his bequest to the promo- 

 tion of any one branch of literature or science, and therefore left the 

 trust free to be applied to all. 



His will recognises a well established and very important distinction 

 with regard to knowledge, viz: its increase and its diffusion. These, 

 though frequently confounded, are very different processes, and each 

 may exist independent of the other. While we rejoice that in our coun- 

 try, above all others, so much attention is paid to the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge, truth compels us to say that comparatively little encouragement 

 is given to its increase. 



There is another division with regard to knowledge which Smithson 

 does not embrace in his design, viz : the application of knowledge to 

 useful purposes in the arts ; and it was not necessary he should found an 

 institution for this purpose. There are already in every civilized coun- 

 try establishments and patent laws for the encouragement of this 

 department of mental industry. As soon as any branch of science can 

 be brought to bear on the necessities, conveniences, or luxuries of life, 

 it meets with encouragement and reward. Not so with the discovery 

 of the incipient principles of science. The investigations which lead to 

 these receive no fostering care from government, and are considered by 

 the superficial observer as trifles unworthy the attention of those who 

 place the supreme good in that which immediately administers to the 

 physical necessities or luxuries of life. 



If physical well being were alone the object of existence, every ave- 

 nue of enjoyment should be explored to its utmost extent. But he who 

 loves truth for its own sake, feels that its highest claims are lowered 

 and its moral influence marred by being continually summoned to the 

 bar of immediate and palpable utility. Smithson himself had no such 

 narrow views. The prominent design of his bequest is the promotion 

 of abstract science. It leaves to the teacher and the teeming press to 

 diffuse popular knowledge, and to the Patent Office and the manufac- 

 turer to facilitate and reward the application of science to the useful 

 arts. In this respect the institution holds an otherwise unoccupied 

 place in this country, and adopts two fundamental maxims in its policy : 

 first, to do nothing with its funds which can be equally well done by 

 other means ; and, second, to produce results which, as far as possible, 

 will benefit mankind in general. Any deviations from these maxims 

 which the history of the institution ma}?- exhibit, must be referred to the 

 original requirements of the law of Congress authorizing its establish- 

 ment, and not to the plan of active operations at first proposed in the 

 programme, and which has constantly been kept in view from the be- 

 ginning until the present time. 



A miscellaneous and general library, museum, and gallery of art, 

 though important in themselves, have from the first been considered by 



