PROMOTION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 5 



of a comprehensive learned society. Among all the activities planned 

 only a few were in any way conspicuously carried out, in default 

 of the necessary support, the most important and material of these 

 being the establishment of a botanic garden and a museum, both 

 regarded essentially as parts of the equipment required for achieving 

 certain of the purposes of the society, but nevertheless designed to 

 have a national and permanent status. The former occupied the 

 extreme eastern end of the Mall which then approached much nearer 

 to the Capitol than at present, and included the site of the present 

 United States Botanic Garden. Through the cultivation of the 

 garden it was expected to obtain many useful seeds and plants for 

 distributing throughout the country, but while this hope was never 

 realized, extensive distributions of foreign seeds and grains, obtained 

 through Government sources, and subject to the requests of Members 

 of Congress, were conducted for several years, presumably inaugurat- 

 ing the system subsequently followed by the Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



Starting with a cabinet of minerals which remained predominant 

 in this connection, this feature soon developed into a general though 

 small museum, containing specimens of zoology, botany, ethnology, 

 archeology, fossils, etc. Transferred to the National Institution in 

 1841, some of the objects are now readily distinguishable in the 

 United States National Museum, forming, it may be claimed, the 

 nucleus of its collections. 



The advice of the Institute was sought and obtained in the matter 

 of formulating instructions for the scientific work of the United 

 States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842; its aid was asked in the 

 preparation of a National Pharmacopoeia .; and it became closely 

 associated, mainly through two of its prominent members, William 

 Lambert and William Elliot, with the problems of determining the 

 meridian of Washington, of establishing a national astronomical 

 observatory, and of fixing upon a system of weights and measures. 



The Institute obtained its meeting places and accommodations for 

 its museum mainly through the favor successively of the executive 

 departments, the municipal government and Congress. It was first 

 located in Blodget's Hotel, containing the General Post Office and 

 the Patent Office, followed by the Treasury Department and City 

 Hall, being finally assigned a permanent home, in 1824, in the west- 

 ern addition to the Capitol building, which had just been completed. 

 The use of the site for its botanic garden was also a grant from 

 Congress. 



The meetings were not generally interesting, being mainly devoted 

 to business matters. There were only two regular meetings annu- 

 ally during the first four years, after which the number was increased 

 to 12, though not always held because of the lack of a quorum. 



