10 REPOKT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1908 



scope of the Museum, a fact especially remarkable when it is recalled 

 that at that date no museum of considerable size existed in the 

 United States, and the museums of England and of the Continent of 

 Europe Avere still to a large extent without a developed plan, although 

 containing many rich collections. 



The Congress which passed the act of foundation enumerated as 

 within the scope of the Museum " all objects of art and of foreign 

 and curious research and all objects of natural history, plants, and 

 geological and mineralogical specimens belonging to the United 

 States," thus stamping the Museum at the very outset as one of the 

 widest range and at the same time as the Museum of the United 

 States. It was also fully appreciated that additions would be neces- 

 sary to the collections then in existence, and provision was made for 

 their increase by the exchange of duplicate specimens, by donations, 

 and by other means. 



If the wisdom of Congress in so fully providing for a museum in 

 the Smithsonian law challenges attention, the interpretation put 

 upon this law by the Board of Regents within less than six months 

 from the passage of the act can not but command admiration. In the 

 early jDart of September, 1840, the Eegents took steps toward formu- 

 lating a plan of operations. The report of the committee appointed 

 for this purpose, submitted in December and January following, 

 shows a thorough consideration of the subject in both the spirit and 

 the letter of the law. It would seem not out of place to cite here the 

 very first pronouncement of the Board with reference to the char- 

 acter of the Museum : 



" In obedience to the requirements of the charter," which leaves 

 little discretion in regard to the extent of accommodations to be 

 provided, your committee recommend that there be included in the 

 building a museum of liberal size, fitted up to receive the collections 

 destined for the Institution. * * * 



"As important as the cabinets of natural history by the charter 

 i-equirod to be included in the Museum your committee regard its 

 ethnological portion, including all collections that may supply items 

 in the physical history of our species and illustrate the manners, 

 customs, religions, and progressive advance of the various nations 

 of the world; as, for example, collections of skulls, skeletons, por- 

 traits, dresses, implements, weapons, idols, antiquities, of the various 

 races of man. * * * In this connexion your committee recom- 

 mend the passage of resolutions asking the cooperation of certain 



" Since the Institiition was not chartered in a legal sense, but established by 

 Congress, the use of tlie word "charter" in this connection would seem to be 

 unauthorized. It was not subsequently employed. 



