THE

HE endowment of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, by means of the munificent bequest of an English votary of knowledge, desirous of its increase among men, and, at the same time, ambitious to connect his own name with its diffusion for all time to come, is, we trust, destined to mark an all-important era in the history of science in America. Not that the amount bequeathed is in reality so large, in view of the magnitude of the work to be done. Its annual income is not half as much as the amount each year appropriated by Congress for the publication of the reports of the Patent Office. However colossal as the private fortune of one individual, even half a million yields but a limited income for the great work set before it, by the founder; the increase of knowledge, and the diffusion of that increase among all mankind. The importance of this bequest lies not in the amount of funds appropriated. It is to be found only in that vital principle of active progress inculcated by that one brief but comprehensive sentence of the Will of Mr. Smithson-" to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The increase and diffusion of knowledge among men! Nothing can apparently be simpler or plainer than these words. Yet the diversity of their interpretation in their practical fulfilment, by different minds, can hardly be exaggerated. Even at the present moment there is a great difference of opinion among well-informed persons, as to the actual intentions of the founder, and the true signification of his will; VOL. IV.-9.

while, among most of our countrymen, so vague and ill-defined an idea of this foundation, its object and aim, seems to prevail, as to call for an exposition of what, as it appears to us, all must admit to be its intended mission, when the life, the character, and the opinions of Smithson himself are well considered, as indices of his undoubted wishes and intentions in framing the bequest.

For we must bear constantly in mind that the Smithsonian is not a public but a private institution. It was founded by the exclusive bounty of one individual, and the United States have no right but as trustees. The trust could have been declined, had the object sought to be accomplished appeared unworthy consideration or undesirable. But, having once accepted the trust, our government is bound in honor to fulfil it, in good faith, and in strict accordance with the apparent wishes of Smithson, as well as they can be ascertained by the best light obtainable. The very brevity and simple conciseness of his Will, made this at first no easy task. A conflict of opinions for some time embarrassed and delayed its execution. This was not surprising. Nothing is more common than the error which confounds the diffusion of knowledge with its advancement, though nothing in reality can be more distinct. It was this substitution of the idea of the mere diffusion of the knowledge already in our possession, among a wider circle, for that evidently contemplated by Smithson, and expressed in his Will, the discovery of new truths, and new laws in science, which led astray many of those who at first sought, doubtless in good faith, to ex