BOOK IV. Chapter V. Institution at manent "fabric - fund" to keep the building in repair. Smithsonian The main structure was completed in 1855, and its totWashington. al cost was £59,882 (299,414 dollars). The aggregate amount of accumulated interest up to the same date, was about £87,000. So that, in the words of the Ninth Annual Report, "the fund originally bequeathed by Smithson remains undiminished in the Treasury of the United States, and there is now on hand nearly 140,000 dollars (£28,000) to be added to the principal.“ At the very outset of the Institution two widely different views as to the relative importance of the several spheres of action, specified in the Act of Congress, and in the Programme of Organization, obtained, as well within the Board of Regents as without it. The one party regarded the formation and efficient maintenance of a great Library, with its subsidiary collections, as beyond all question the most valuable result which the Smithson bequest could yield. Their opponents esteemed the institution and encouragement of scientific researches, on the one hand, and, on the other, the widest possible dissemination of the fruits of such researches, by means of the press, to be far more valuable than any conceivable gathering of books, or of the other appliances of learning. The former alleged that to amass a splendid Library was at once to lay a broad foundation both for the increase and the diffusion of human knowledge, and to secure a tangible and enduring return, visible to all eyes, for the money expended. The latter relied on the vagueness and universality of the testator's few words of direction" the increase and diffusion of knowledge AMONG MEN,"-as, of them selves, constituting a clear proof that no plan of expenditure, the fruits of which where wholly or chiefly local, could honestly carry out his purpose. There is so much of undeniable truth in each of these statements, taken singly, and each of them is so far from embodying the whole truth of the question in hand, that a fair distribution of the funds between the two great objects of (1) gathering the tools of knowledge, and (2) of teaching men how rightly to use them, may well appear to be rather the wise solution of a difficult problem than a mere compromise between conflicting opinions. And with a little more of patience and mutual forbearance on the part of those who had to work out the plan, it would, I think, have been found practicable enough. An income of £6000 or £7000 a-year would not, indeed, have always sufficed to carry on simultaneously the formation of a great Library, and the production and diffusion of a series of scientific investigations of a high order. But it required no memory of uncommon retentiveness to call to mind the names of Brown and Peabody, of Bates and Astor; and no logical faculty, unusually acute, to make the right deduction from the reminiscence. A systematic, well-chosen, and preeminently scientific Library at Washington would have been, at every step of its progress, increasingly useful even in the direct furtherance of the "active operations" of the Smithsonian Institution. No such Library ever was, or ever will be, formed by a mere system of "exchanges," although such a system is an admirable aid and auxiliary. Honest and persevering effort for the obtainment of such a Library, BOOK IV. Chapter V. Smithsonian Institution at Washington. BOOK IV. Chapter V. Smithsonian if made side by side with an energetic furtherance of the scheme of publication, would have gathered supWashington. port from all quarters; whilst a contrary course has Institution at divided the friends of the Smithsonian Institution into two jealous and even hostile camps. In the lives of institutions, as in those of individuals, there are occasions, when bold enterprise and unquestioning faith show themselves to be qualities as prudent as they are powerful. For the present, however, the Library portion of the Smithsonian scheme has sustained a check. But a foundation has been laid, which, at some day or other, will assuredly be worthily built upon. About 19,000 volumes have been collected.1 Of this number about 9350 have been purchased; 'upwards of 8000 have been obtained by donation and exchange; about 4300 have been delivered under the Copyright Act; 873 volumes are stated in the Reports to have come "by deposit." Of the extent of the collection in the several classes of literature no adequate statement has appeared. In appropriating the funds available for book-buying, Mr. Jewett very judiciously recommended the collection, in the first instance, of works of bibliography, and a considerable proportion of the purchases have accordingly been in this department. Of the books presented the This statement is based on a careful comparison of the Reports of Eleven years. In a catchpenny publication issued in 1857, under the title: An account of the Smithsonian Institution.... by W. J. Rhees (which however asserts itself to be "prepared from the Reports of Prof. Henry to the Regents, and other authentic sources,") the following statement is to be found (which stands in no need of comment). "It now contains 50,000 books, and other articles." majority are Periodicals and Transactions of learned Societies. The Reading-Room it is stated (in the "Eighth Annual Report"),,,has continued to be a place of great resort for citizens and strangers. The list of periodicals is extensive, and comprises many of the best scientific and literary journals of this country and of Europe." Of the other operations of the Smithsonian Institution I can speak with unmixed satisfaction. It has already published nine volumes of "Contributions to Knowledge;” besides several minor but useful works, as, for instance, a good "Report on recent Improvements in the Chemical Arts." Of the contents of the former, it may here be added, that they are very comprehensive. In addition to the entire range of the Natural Sciences, they include contributions of real value in History and in Philology. The Institution has also erected a Magnetic Observatory at Washington; has in various ways promoted astronomical pursuits; and has established a valuable system of meteorological investigation throughout the whole extent of the Union. And, finally, it has organized and has succesfully carried into practical working, a comprehensive scheme of scientific and literary correspondence and exchanges throughout the world, the probable ultimate advantages of which are not easily calculable. The first part of a list of works of this kind has been published by way of Appendix to the Seventh Volume of the Smithsonian Contributions. 2 Eighth Report, 30 (1854. Svo). BOOK IV. Chapter V. Institution at That an institution, which in eleven years has accom Smithsonian plished so much, may surmount all temporary difficulWashington. ties and prosecute its career with ever increasing activity and success, must be the ardent desire of all lovers of knowledge, whether they be Americans or Europeans. |