Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-07-16
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

Svou NHen IL Is capllOus IlDeral Dy
means spared the valuable establishment named above
On the contrary il would be difficult perhaps
partcularn which the Smithsonian Institution has
been at tine other the sabect of unavorabe but
for the most part superficial aninadverson Its plan
location pbecss, management, arrangements, and
material havenll been objected to- In compre
hensiysl the defence must evidently labor under
striking bnt not unusual disadvantage 1t is the easiest
Of all man achievements find fault il is at the same
time Of the most difficult stand at ward against a
,bjsct9F and to make good the absolute optimism and
irrefrsgible tight reason of-evefy procedure
Thes wAs caes, y Is sail IL of Arragon Sho
thoushtsihAt have sissn come va|w)ie hints
towards the Improvement of the mundane system; and
truly it might have puzsled even Leibnitz himself to
show against such caviller why every thing in this
world Of ours should be just 1t is and otherwise
why rose should be red which might have been blue
why the continents should stand in prescribed position
with respect each other and that not be land which is
which is land To objectors Of this class who
have exercised their ingenuity they had undoubted
right do, N imagining different mode of usefulness
for the institution from that which it is striving to fulfill
it might be sufficient to reply that the question is not
whether some other plan may not possess advantages,
but whethe this also is not of great and undoubted
advantage The question is not whether the services
which uualy and efficiently performed by agricultu
be not in themselves good and beneficial but whether
there be MT other services of indispensable Importance
which, having been chosen after great deberaton the
proper sphere Of the institution prescribe the orbit Of
its abors and for tue performance of which services and
not Of Others it can alone be justly held responsible
There mat be those to whom it may desirable to
have done something else something more but let it
be remembered that the funds of the institution
tremely limited with reference to its appointed duties
that has scarcely yet passed through the first stages of
organization and that, Notwithstanding this what it
has actualyefected in its sphere is not only not
SMALL trivial, inconsderable but, the contrary
large considerable and imposing to have received
repeatedly the Acknowledgements Of learned in other
parts of tie world, and to have conferred already un
doubted benefits the material interests of country
directly BY its labors, indirectly by stimulating
guiding, and sustaining the abors Of others
Have those in effect who have INDUCED spirit Of
unfriendy criticism in this really given themselves
the trouble to consider seriously either the principle
actual performances of the institution Have they
amned its transactions, even its ordinary reports
Have they asked what amount of scientific literature,
otherwise unattsinable has been introduced into the
country by this itstrumentaty what degree Of aid
has been extended to national well individual
terprises not only by advice and information, but by
preparing Instructions under the orders of Government
and by furnishing instruments adapted to nice and inds
pe2he procsapes Of observation and experiment. Sci
& 1||s'|' 8; s ssslil'i ] u s IN @ e {
witnesSUd - coast and every sea, while the silent
chambers in which such results have been prepared
sound with plaudts and parade airacua speeOsa
before the eyes of startled spectators An institution
which shall thus the germs Of scientific nduc-
ton which shall press every point with expansive
force and effect upon the whole circumference of human
knowledge whb by organizing discovery and throwing
light on every path Of useful inquiry shall realize the
magnificent conception of Bacon in his great 0rganon
such an institution would essenalt the which
Providence has marked for nation and fulfls
no doubt as nearly possible the intention of the founder
when he determined that the establishment called by his
name should be for the promotion Of knowledge among
men, without distinction Of race country.
That intention it is true mighthave been accomplished
with different and very inferior apparatus Of local con-
structons As the first attempts at evangelizing the
world issued from an upper chamber at Jerusalem,
so not to make the comparison rreverenty the herads
OF scientific thought and missionaries Of secular know
ledge might have gone forth from obscure closet
which none have known entered but the appointed
functonares The views Of Smithson might have been
substantially ctrried out without comforting embe
lshment or local benefit city Luckily, however
for Washington it was deemed expedient by Congress
that the pr0posed INSTITUTION sLouu pe nhuBurateu WIN
certain degree Of eclat in the eyes Of the country and
Of the world Hence the conspicuous and picturesque
edifce which adorns public grounds, and the i'm
proyement OF those grounds which seemed abandoned
but little While since to irreclamable waste and
sterity Hence too the lectures which afford enter
tainment and instruction and give marked feature 70
metropolitan fe Hence the facilities Of the reading
room offered freely all who choose to avail themselves
Of the privilege and the prospect in due time Of library
which shall meet the wishes Of all who desire TO
consult its Yet these merely incidents and
not leading objects Of the institution as many seem to
gard them and might have been dispensed with without
imparng in any very material degree its ultimate ends
and comprehensive efficiency.
With such considerations pressing notice, i
seems especially strange that spirit OF hostile at
least capous remark should have found vent in this
city Because the institution cannot meet every imagi-
nabe requston and adapt itself to all the wants which
in other places supplied by private associated
effort il has been looked upon with dsfavor and even
menaced with extraneous interference II will be an
evil day for Washington when the jealousy Of Congress-
whether stimulated by such complaints not shall at
tempt any direct interposon in the daily management
and ordinary details Of the Smith sonian Institution
These matters which be integently disposed Of
only by the officers who have charge Of its various de-
partmens and who have witnessed their courtesy
know their ability doubt either their wish to give
public satisfaction their intelligence Of what is de-
gentlemen need no euogy more especially would any be
superuous in the Of the distinguished Secretary on
whom the labor Of organization in all its details has