REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 9 



" (1) That these moneys shall be disbursed under the direction of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



" (2) That the estimates for the ai)proi)riations of the Museum in the 

 future shall be sent direct to the Secretary of the Treasury by the 

 Smithsonia!) Institution throujih its Secretary." 



In obedience to the wishes of the Board of Kegents thus expressed, 

 the matter was brought to the attention of the Secretary of the Inte- 

 rior, in a recent interview, by Chief- Justice Waite (the Chancellor of the 

 Smithsonian Institution) and myself. As a result of this meeting a 

 letter has been receiv^^d from the vSecretary of the Interior, in which he 

 expresses the opinion that changes may be made with great propriety 

 both in the manner of voting the appropriation and in the method of 

 its disbursement. A copy of this letter is herewith inclosed, together 

 with a copy of a second letter received in response to an inquiry as to 

 the manner in which this change may best be effected. 



In further explanation of the third request, I wish to say that this 

 does not involve a new appropriation, since the estimate for this amount 

 is included, as I understand it, in the sum of $375,525 estimated by the 

 Secretary of the Treasury for the printing of the Interior Department 

 and its Bureaus (see i)age 121) of the "Estimates of Appropriations, 

 1888-89"). I may say in further explanation of this item that an ap- 

 propriation has thus been made for the printing of the National Museum 

 for at least twelve years past, and 1 am informed that the amount al- 

 lotted during recent years has usually been $10,000. 



I believe these changes will l>e in the interest of the public service, 

 and respectfully ask tliat they be made. 

 1 am, sir, your obedient servant, 



S. P. Langley, 



Secretary. 



lion. Samuel J. Randall, 



Chairman of (Jommitiee on Apinopriations, 



House of Reprefientatives. 



Department of thk Interior, 



Washingfon, Fchruary 14, 1888. 



Sir: I have considered the topic of the conference which I had the 

 honor to have yesterday with the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution and yourself, being the relation of the Interior Department to 

 the expenditure of the appropriation for the increase and care of the 

 National Museum, which is a part of the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 whether there be objection to the recommendation of an independency 

 in the disbursement of the funds provided for its support as well as in 

 its management. 



The first collection of scientific curiosities which appears to have been 

 a special object of care on the part of Congress was that made by the 

 Wilkes Exploring Expedition, provided for by the act of May 14, 183(3 

 (5 Stats., 29). Tliis collection was first placed in the care of the Na- 

 tional Institution for the Promotion of Science, and afterwards was 

 transferred to the hall in the second story of the Patent Office. In 

 1846, when the act for the establishmentof the Smithsonian Institution 

 was passed, it was])rovided that, "as suitable arrangements could be 

 made for their recei)ti()n, all objects of art, and of foreign and curious 

 research, and all objects of natural history, ])lants, geological and min- 

 eralogical specimens, belonging or hereafter to belong to the United 



