HtA^ 



EEPORT OF THE SECEETAEY EOE, 1857 



To the Board of Eegents : 



Gentlemen : It again becomes niy duty to present to you the 

 history of the operations of another year of the Institution which 

 the government of the United States has entrusted to your care. In 

 an establishment of this kind, of which the policy has been settled 

 and is strictly adhered to, there must of necessity be much sameness in 

 the general form and character of the successive reports ; but since 

 the field of science is boundless, and new portions of it are continually 

 presented for investigation, there will always be found in the details, 

 facts of sufficient interest to relieve the routine of the statements 

 relative to the condition of the funds and the scrutiny of the receipts 

 and expenditures. 



It might at first sight appear surprising that so constant a supply 

 of materials for the Smithsonian Contributions and so many objects of 

 interest, demanding the assistance of the Smithsonian fund, should 

 be presented, but it will be evident, on reflection, that this results 

 from the influence of the Institution itself in increasing the number 

 of laborers in the field of science, as well as in accumulating the 

 materials on which they are to be engaged. The tendency is con- 

 stantly to expand the operations, and much caution and self-control 

 are necessary to repress the desire to be more liberal in the assistance 

 rendered to worthy objects, than the income will permit. Indeed, a 

 charge is frequently made of illiberality for what is the result of re- 

 stricted means. It must be evident that nothing is more important to 

 the permanency and proper conduct of the Institution than the cautious 

 and judicious management of its funds. Any embarrassment in this 

 quarter would involve a loss of confidence in the directors, which would 

 be fatal to the usefulness and efficiency of the establishment. 



I have from the first expressed the regret that the original law of 

 Congress directed the expenditure of so large a portion of the income 

 on objects of a local character, and this feeling has been increased by 

 the experience which time has afforded in regard to the good which 

 could be effected by a more critical observance of the terms of the 



