186 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 190H. 



executive committee, live in all, were con.stituted a committee on 

 grounds and buildings, whose iirst report, su))mitted on November 80 

 of the same year, resulted in the passage of the following resolution: 



That the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution do select and adopt as a site for 

 their buildings so much of the Mall, in the city of Washington, as lies between 

 Seventh street and the river Potomac, if the consent of the persons named in the 

 fourth section of the act to establish the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and 

 diffusion of knowledge among men be obtained thereto; and that upon such consent 

 V)eing obtained in due form, the Secretary is hereby instructed to cause the said 

 ground so selected to be set out by proper metes and bounds. 



On Decem])er 1 following .the Board amended the above resolution 

 by adding the following clause after the word Potomac: 



Subject to the power of Congress to grant any portion of the same west of Four- 

 teenth street to the Washington Monument Society for the purpose of erecting a 

 monument thereon. 



As consent to this proposition was not obtained, it was resolved by 

 the Regents on December 9: 



That a committee of three be appointed by the chancellor to confer with the 

 President of the United States and the other persons name<l in the fourth section of 

 said act, and ask their consent to the selection by said Regents of that portion of 

 said reservation lying between Seventh and Twelfth streets west, in said city, as the 

 site for the necessary buildings of said institution; and, if such consent be given — 



It is further resolved, That said buildings be located thereon, and at least two hun- 

 dred and fifty feet south of the centre thereof. 



The committee designated consisted of Representatives Hough and 

 Owen and Senator Evans, but failing in the object of their mission, 

 the Board resolved, on December 23: 



That the Regents of the Smithsonian do select and appropriate as the site for 

 their buildings the south half of so much of the "Mall," in the city of Washington, 

 as lies between Ninth and Twelfth streets. 



The consent to this choice by the President and other persons 

 "named in the fourth section of the fundamental act was conmnmicated 

 to the Board on January 20, 1847, and the further provisions of the 

 act were then carried out, namely : 



And the said ground so selected shall be set out by proper metes and bounds, 

 and a description of the same shall be made, and recorded in a book to be provided 

 for that purpose, and signed by the said Regents, or so many of them as may be 

 convened at the time of their said organization; and such record, or a copy thereof, 

 certified by the chancellor and Secretary of the Board of Regents, shall be received 

 in evidence, in all courts, of the extent and boundaries of the lands appropriated to 

 the said Institution; and upon the making of such record such site and lands shall 

 be deemed and taken to be appropriated, by force of this act, to the said Institution. 



After the close of these proceedings, however, which at the time 

 seemed to be conclusive and did tinally prevail, the subject of a site 

 was again reopened' and led to further inquiries and considerations. 

 These can best be told in the words of the late Dr. George Brown 



