218 REPORT OE^ NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



The apartments on tlie next story have been fitted up with shelves, bins, and other 

 fixtures for the transaction of the business of the hterary and scientific exchanges, 

 j)acking and distributing the same. 



Tiie apartments next above have been finished for the meetings and convenience 

 of the Board of Regents, and tliose on the three remaining floors have also been fin- 

 ished and appropriated to storage and sucli otlier purposes as may become necessary. 

 In this tower are also provided an elevator with convenient mechanical power for 

 removing books, specimens, etc., to and from the basement and four stories above 

 it, etc. * * * 



To increase the accommodation two additional floors have been added to the 

 original subdivision of the stories of the north and south towers. To furnish ligiit to 

 the new rooms in the south tower, circular windows have been opened through the 

 walls, without interfering with the original architectural effect of the exterior, thus 

 furnishing sufficient liglit for the purpose for which these apartments are intended. 



The cost of the roconstructioti during 1865, 18(56, and 1867 amounted 

 to $119,528.01, all of which was paid from Smithsonian funds, except 

 the sum of $8,883.69 taken from the Congressional appropriation for 

 the preservation of the Government collections. 



At the Regents'' meeting of January 27, 1868, it was resolved that 

 the great hall of the second story of the building and such other rooms 

 as are not required for the regular operations of the Institution be 

 devoted to the preservation of the scientitic collections. It should l)e 

 explained in this connection that before this time the library of the 

 Institution had been transferred to the Library of Congress, thus 

 increasing the amount of space available for museum purposes. 



A resolution was also adopted at the same meeting that a committee 

 be appointed to report to the Regents at their next meeting what 

 amount of appropriation should l)e asked of Congress for the care of 

 the Museum and for fitting up the great hall for the safe-keeping and 

 exhibition of specimens. Ofi May 1, 1868, as a result of this action 

 the following tnemorial was presented to Congress: 



To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress asseinhled: 



In behalf of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, the undersigned' 

 beg leave respectfully to submit to your honorable body the following statement, 

 and to solicit such action in regard to it as may be deemed just and proper: 



******* 

 It is true that Congress, at the time the specimens were transferred to the Institu- 

 tion, granted an appropriation of $4,000 for their care and preservation, that being 

 the ecpiivatent of the estimated cost of the maintenance of these collections in the 

 Patent Office, where they had previously been exhibited. But this sum, from the 

 rise in |)rices and the exj^ansion of the museum by the specimens obtained from 

 about fifty exploring expeditions ordered by Congress, scarcely more than defrays 

 at the present time one-third of the annual expense. In this estimate no account is 

 taken of the rent of the part of the louilding devoted to the museum of the (iovern- 

 ment, which at a moderate estimate would be $20,000 per annum. 



Besides the large expenditure which has already been made on the liuilding, at 

 least $50,000 more will be required to finish the large hall in the second story, 

 necessary for the full display of the specimens of the Government. But the Regents 

 do not think it judicious further to emiiarrass the active operations for several years 

 to come by devoting a large part of the income to this object, and have therefore 



