THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE, 1840-1862 
On the 15th of May, 1840, there was founded in the city of 
Washington a society called “The National Institution (later 
changed to National Institute) for the Promotion of Science,” 
whose aims were very inadequately set forth in two articles of 
the constitution adopted at that time, as follows : 
“Article XIV. The resident and corresponding members 
shall exert themselves to procure specimens of natural history, 
& c. ; and the said specimens shall be placed in the Cabinet, under 
the superintendence of a Board of Curators, to be appointed by 
the Directors. All such specimens, &c., unless deposited spe- 
cially, shall remain in the Cabinet, and in case of the dissolution 
of the Institution, shall become the property of the United 
States. 
“Article XV. The resident members of the Institution shall 
be divided into such departments as may hereafter be deter- 
mined upon. The members comprising each department shall 
especially be charged with the subjects embraced therein, and 
communicate to the Institution the result of their inquiries ; but 
every member shall have the privilege of making such communi- 
cations as he may think proper on any subject connected with 
the designs of the Institution. ” 
Although nominally established for scientific pursuits, the 
organization comprehended a department of literature and the 
fine arts, on which subjects the Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary 
of War and Senior Director of the society, spoke as follows, 
January 4, 1841, in a discourse on the objects and importance of 
the Institution : 
“ Literature and the fine arts go hand in hand. The flourishing 
condition of the first is a sure prelude to the advancement of the 
latter; and their united influence adds, in a high degree, to the en- 
joyment of human existence. Their progress has everywhere 
kept pace with that of the moral and social condition of mankind, 
and their history marks, with unerring truth, the rise and fall of 
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