108 REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 



The accounts for the year 1860 were made up to the 11th of Janu- 

 ary, 1861, instead of the first of the same month as heretofore. This 

 difference in time was occasioned by the delay in obtaining the 

 appropriation and interest due at the beginning of the year. 



The balance in the hands of the treasurer at the commencement of 

 the year 1860 was $19,634 11 ; of this, $4,600 were expended in the 

 purchase of $5,000 Tennessee State bonds, leaving $15,034 11. 



The income during the year from the original and extra fund was 

 $38,626 14. The expenditures during 1860 were $37,138 30 ; leaving 

 $1,487 84 to be added to the balance in the hands of the treasurer on 

 the first of the year, making $16,521 95 immediately available for 

 paying in cash the expenses of the operations of the Institution as 

 rapidly as the bills come due. 



The foregoing statement is an actual exhibit of the Smithsonian 

 funds, irrespective of credits and disbursements which have been made 

 in behalf of other parties. For example: the Institution has fre- 

 quently advanced money to pay for the transportation of packages for 

 other establishments, such as the Coast Survey, Patent Office, &c, 

 forwarded through the Smithsonian agents; and in all such cases the 

 money, when refunded, has been credited to the appropriation from 

 which the expenditure was originally made. Again: the use of the 

 lecture-room has in many instances been granted for charitable pur- 

 poses, without any other charge than for the gas consumed ; and the 

 money received for this has been credited on the books of the Institu- 

 tion to the account of "lighting and heating." 



The agricultural department of the Patent Office has for several 

 years past expended a small portion of its appropriation, for the col- 

 lection of meteorological statistics in connection with this Institution. 

 During the past year the assistance from this source has been unex- 

 pectedly very much reduced; and hence, the expenditure on mete- 

 orology from the Smithsonian fund has considerably exceeded the 

 estimate. 



The annual appropriation of $4,000 from Congress, for keeping the 

 collections of the exploring and surveying expeditions of the United 

 States, has been expended under the direction of the Secretary of the 

 Interior, in assisting to pay the extra expenses of assistants, and the 

 cost of arranging and preserving the specimens. The aid thus ren- 

 dered has served to diminish the cost to the Smithsonian fund of the 

 maintenance and exhibition of the museum, although it has by no 

 means been sufficient to defray all the expenses of these objects, as will 

 be seen by reference to the items given under the head of the museum, 

 in the detailed statement. 



The specimens intrusted to the care of the Institution are in good 

 condition, and the duplicates are in process of being assorted prepara- 

 tory to a general distribution for scientific and educational pur- 

 poses. 



The committee respectfully submit the following estimates for the 

 year 1861. 



