REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 11 



Commission, of which Professor Baird is the head. But for a full 

 account of the part of the Centeuuial Exhibition known as the Govern- 

 ment, or United States, exhibition, I must refer to the reports of Profes- 

 sor Baird in the appendix to my last and that of my present report. 



The anticipations expressed in the last report in regard to the addi- 

 tions which would be made to the National Museum through the agency 

 of the Centennial Exhibition have been fully realized. These additions 

 consist of new specimens procured by the direct agency of the Institu- 

 tion, particularly for the exhibition ; of donations from various States of 

 the Union, from individuals, and especially from foreign exhibitors. 

 These will require more than three times as much space for their dis- 

 play as was required by the previous collections of the Museum. To 

 preserve and exhibit this increase, or to render it available for educa- 

 tional and scientific purposes, an additional building is imperatively de- 

 manded. The appropriation for erecting this building must be fur- 

 nished by Congress, since the idea cannot for a moment be entertained 

 of making it from the Smithson fund. Furthermore, the building 

 should be an extension, as it were, of the present Smithsonian edi- 

 fice, since if the National Museum is entirely transferred to another 

 building the Institution would have left upon it, for support, a building 

 erected from the income of the Smithson fund almost entirely for the 

 accommodation of the Government collections and far too large and ex- 

 pensive for its own use. I beg leave, therefore, to repeat the suggestion 

 made in my last report, that the Government be asked to take entire 

 possession of the present edifice for the use of the Museum, to enlarge 

 it so as to meet the present emergency, and to repay to the Institution at 

 least a part of its cost; a portion of the sum thus repaid to be applied to 

 providiug other accommodations for the Institution in a building better 

 adapted to its operations, and far less expensive in its maintenance ; 

 and the remainder to be added to the permanent fund for the increase 

 of the power and efficiency of the establishment. 



I may further be allowed to remark that the experience of the last 

 year has strengthened my opinion as to the propriety of a separation of 

 the Institution from the National Museum. The events of this period 

 have proved that the Museum is destined to become an extensive estab 

 lishment involving a large annual expenditure for its support and a 

 variety of complex operations having no necessary connection with the 

 plan adopted by the Institution for the "increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men." Smithson gave Ms oivn name to the establishment 

 which he founded, thereby indicating that he intended it as a monu- 

 ment to his memory, and in strict regard to this item of his will the 

 endowment of his bequest should be administered separate from all other 

 funds, and the results achieved by it should be accredited to his name alone. 

 The Institution should not, therefore, bo merged in an establishment of 



