REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 



But, although greatly to be regretted on account of the losses in- 

 curred, the accident is not without compensation in considerations of 

 a different nature ; thus, it has served to call forth the expression of 

 a large amount of kind feeling in regard to the Institution, to direct 

 the attention of Congress to the character and importance of its opera- 

 tions, and has thus, perhaps, furnished the opportunity of remedying 

 some of the defects in the original law of its organization, which were 

 the result of the novelty of the enterprise or the desire of reconciling 

 inconsistent propositions. Immediately after the fire, as is well 

 known to the Board, a committee of the two houses of Congress was 

 appointed to inquire into its origin, the loss sustained, the means 

 necessary to repair the building, and to' collect such facts in connex- 

 ion with the whole subject as might be of public interest. This 

 committee, after adopting the report of the special committee of the 

 Board* as to the origin of the fire, called upon the Secretary for a 

 detailed statement of the origin and objects of the Institution and of 

 its operations from the beginning, in connexion with the policy of 

 the Regents and his own superintendence of its affairs. 



In pursuance of this request I submitted to the committee a gen- 

 eral review of the more prominent facts connected with the adoption 

 of the plan of organization, and of what has been since accomplished 

 towards realizing the views of the founder and the wishes of the 

 friends of the Institution. Although this review may give facts 

 familiar to some of the members of the Board and to those who 

 have directed any special attention to the history of the estab- 

 lishment, it may well be inferred from occasional remarks, not only 

 in the journals of the day, but on the floor of Congress, that there 

 is no little need of the repetition of statements tending to correct 

 misconceptions which arise, no doubt, much oftener from inattention 

 than from prejudice. It is for this reason, and to keep before the 

 public mind distinct ideas of the character and operations of the In- 

 stitution, that I append, as the concluding portion of this report, the 

 statement, somewhat expanded in the introduction, which I had the 

 honor of laying before the Joint Committee of Congress. 



SKETCH OF THE ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION OF THE INSTITUTION. 



The founder of this Institution, James Smithson, was a graduate of 

 the University of Oxford, devoted daring a long life to the advance- 

 ment of science, and the author of a number of original contributions 

 to geology, chemistry, mineralogy, &c. He was well acquainted with 



* See proceedings of the Board. 

 3 s 



