14 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



tory had accumulated at the lustitution from numerous exploring 

 parties sent out by the general government; and as these collections had 

 been made under the direction of the Institution, and their preser- 

 vation was of the highest importance to the natural history of the 

 country, it was finally concluded that if Congress would make an 

 appropriation for the transfer and new arrangement of the articles 

 then in the Patent Office, and continue the annual appropriation 

 previously made for their care and exhibition while in charge of the 

 Commissioner of Patents, the Institution would, under these con- 

 ditions, become the curator of the national collections. This propo- 

 sition was agreed to by the government, and the contemplated transfer 

 has accordingly been made. 



It is believed that this arrangement will be mutually beneficial to 

 the Patent Office and the Institution, since the former will be relieved 

 from a duty scarcely compatible with the design of its establishment, 

 and will gain possession of one of the largest rooms in the city for 

 the exhibition of a class of models to which the public have not pre- 

 viously had ready access ; while the Smithsonian Institution will be 

 able to present to the strangers who visit Washington a greater num- 

 ber of objects of interest, and appropriate that portion of the large 

 building not required for its own most important operations to a use- 

 ful purpose. 



The cost of keeping the collections at the Patent Office, including 

 fuel, was about |4,000 annually, but the Regents might with justice 

 have asked for an additional amount sufficient to pay the interest on 

 the cost of that portion of the edifice occupied by the museum. It was, 

 however, thought more prudent to restrict the application to the sum 

 aboye mentioned, and to request that the appropriation might be con- 

 tinued under the charge of the Secretary of the Interior, thus obvi- 

 ating the necessity of an annual application to Congress by the 

 Institution itself. 



The cases at present required for the accommodation of the collec- 

 tions have been constructed at a cost within the appropriation made 

 for that purpose ; and the Institution is indebted to Hon. J. Thomp- 

 son, Secretary of the Interior, and Hon. J. Holt, Commissioner of 

 Patents, for the use of glass sash and shelving no longer needed in 

 the room which formerly contained the museum in the Patent Office, 

 but which have been applied to good purpose in supplying deficiencies 

 in the Smithsonian building. The Eegents are also indebted to Thos. 



