CR. sonian Institution" for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among account with the Smithsonian Institution. By amount of the following warrants drawn on the Treasurer No. 6252, dated September 16, 1846 $2,000 00 2,000 00 3,584 07 15,455 07 No. 2034, dated January 15, 1848. 15,455 00 15,455 00 No. 6823, dated January 5, 1849.. 15,455 14 PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON'S Letter addressed by Hon. John Forsyth, Secretary of State, by direction of President Van Buren to Messrs. Thomas Cooper, South Carolina; Richard Rush, Philadelphia; Professor Francis Wayland, Providence, Rhode Island; Albert Gallatin, New York; Rev. Stephen Olin, Boydton, Virginia; Philip Lindsley, Nashville, Tennessee; Professor Davis, Charlottesville, Virginia. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, July 19, 1838. SIR: By the will of James Smithson, late of London, deceased, property to a considerable amount was bequeathed to the United States, for the purpose, as expressed in the language of the will, of "founding at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The United States having, under the authority of an act of Congress, approved the 1st of July, 1836, accepted the legacy, pledged their faith for the performance of the trust, in such manner as Congress may hereafter direct, and recovered the proceeds of the bequest, to the amount of about one hundred thousand pounds sterling, the President is anxious, in presenting the subject to Congress for their consideration and action upon it, to aid his judgment by consulting the views of persons versed in science and in matters relating to public education, as to the mode of applying the proceeds of the bequest, which shall be likely at once to meet the wishes of the testator, and prove most advantageous to mankind. The President will be pleased to have, if agreeable to you to give it, the result of your reflections on the subject, communicated through this Department, at as early a day as convenient. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 837 Letter from Thomas Cooper. COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, July 20, 1838. SIR: With respect to the Smithson legacy, two courses only suggest themselves to my mind; one, annual premiums for the best treatises on given subjects, which we have not literary and scientific men enough to supply or to enter into anything like competition with the Bridgewater Treatises, and, therefore, we should only be disgraced by it; and, therefore, I cannot recommend this mode of application. Add to which, it would be very apt to degenerate into a political and party institution, in various ways. The other is an institution of the character of an university. I am well aware the power of erecting an university was twice refused to Congress, in the convention of 1787. But the objection may be gotten over by transferring the donation to the corporation of Georgetown, under such limitations as may be expedient and constitutional, and let an university be instituted by that corporation. This would be a sufficient approximation to Mr. Smithson's required locality, and would obviate the constitutional objection. Such an university ought not to be opened, except to graduates of other colleges. The studies might be the higher algebraical calculus; the application of mathematics to practical mechanical knowledge of every description, and to astronomy, to chemistry, electricity, and galvanism; the principles of botany and agriculture. No Latin or Greek; no mere literature. Things, not words. Strict attendance; strict and public examinations. I object to all belles-lettres, and philosophical literature, as calculated only to make men pleasant talkers. I object to medicine, which cannot be well taught in a locality of less than 100,000 inhabitants. I object to law; for all that can be orally delivered can be more profitably and deliberately learnt by perusal. Ethics and politics are as yet unsettled branches of knowledge. Whether physiology and political economy ought to be rejected, requires more consideration than I can at this moment bestow. I want to see those studies cultivated, which, in their known tendencies and results, abridge human labor, and increase and multiply the comforts of existence to the great mass of mankind. Public education should be useful, not ornamental. The course should not be less than three years, of ten months each. The instruction afforded gratis; examinations for admission rigid. Such, in few words, are my notions on this subject, which I respectfully submit, sir, to your better judgment: Accept, I pray you, the assurances of my sincere and high consideration. THOMAS COOPER, M. D. Hon. JOHN FORSYTH, Secretary of State. Letter from Francis Wayland. PROVIDENCE, October 2, 1838. SIR: In reply to your communication dated July last, requesting my views respecting the Smithsonian Institute, I beg leave to state as follows: 1. It is, I suppose to be taken for granted, that this Institution is intended for the benefit not of any particular section of the United States, but for the benefit of the whole country; and, also, that no expense, which may be necessary in order to accomplish its object, will be spared. 2. I think it also evident, that there is no need, in this country, of what may be properly termed collegiate education; that is, of that education which may be given between the ages of fourteen or sixteen, and eighteen or twenty. All the old States, and many of the new ones, have as many institutions of this kind as their circumstances require. And, besides, since persons of the ages specified are too young to be, for a long period, absent from home, it is probably better that a large number of such institutions. should be established within convenient distances of each other. The age of the pupils in these institutions would also render it desirable that very large numbers be not associated together. 3. It is probable that professional schools-that is, schools for divinity, law, and medicine-will be established in every section of our country. Divinity must be left to the different Christian sects; law will probably be taught in the State, or, at least, the district, in which it is to be practiced. The same will, I think, be true of medicine. 4. If the above views be correct, it will, I think, follow, that the proper place to be occupied by such an institution would be the space between the close of a collegiate education and a professional school. Its object would be to carry forward a classical and philosophical education beyond the point at which a college now leaves it, and to give instruc |