Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution

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Page 7 - I mean stock to remain in this country, to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.
Page 138 - Saturn, the spots in the sun, and its turning on its own axis, the inequalities and selenography of the moon, the several phases of Venus and Mercury, the improvement of telescopes, and grinding of glasses for that purpose, the weight of air, the possibility, or impossibility of vacuities, and nature's abhorrence thereof, the Torricellian experiment in quicksilver, the descent of heavy bodies, and the degrees of acceleration therein ; and divers other things of like nature.
Page 145 - I now design to suppress. Philosophy is such an impertinently litigious Lady, that a man had as good be engaged in lawsuits, as have to do with her. I found it so formerly, and now I am no sooner come near her again, but she gives me warning.
Page 11 - To carry out the plan before described, a library will be required, consisting, 1st, of a complete collection of the transactions and proceedings of all the learned societies in the world ; 2d, of the more important current periodical publications, and other works necessary in preparing the periodical reports.
Page 9 - ... diffusing knowledge was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. In his formal plan for the Institution, Joseph Henry articulated a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge not strictly professional.
Page 10 - By the publication of separate treatises on subjects of general interest. 1. These treatises may occasionally consist of valuable memoirs translated from foreign languages, or of articles prepared under the direction of the institution, or procured by offering premiums for the best exposition of a given subject. 2. The treatises should, in all cases, be submitted to a commission of competent judges, previous to their publication.
Page 140 - And, like th' old Hebrews, many years did stray, In deserts but of small extent, Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last : The barren wilderness he past ; Did on the very border stand Of the blest promis'd land ; And from the mountain's top of his exalted wit, Saw it himself, and shew'd us it.
Page 145 - He says you had the notion from him, though he owns the demonstration of the curves generated thereby to be wholly your own. How much of this is so, you know best, as likewise what you have to do in this matter ; only Mr.
Page 138 - About the year 1645, while I lived in London (at a time when, by our Civil Wars, Academical Studies were much interrupted in both our Universities:) beside the Conversation of divers eminent Divines, as to matters Theological ; I had the opportunity of being acquainted with divers worthy Persons, inquisitive into Natural Philosophy, and other parts of Humane Learning ; And particularly of what hath been called the New Philosophy or Experimental Philosophy.
Page 10 - Some of the reports may be published annually, others at longer intervals, as the income of the Institution, or the changes in the branches of knowledge may indicate. 2. The reports are to be prepared by collaborators, eminent in the different branches of knowledge. 3. Each collaborator to be furnished with the journals and publications, domestic and foreign, necessary to the compilation of his report, to be paid a certain sum for his labors, and to be named on the title-page of the report.

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