16 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Tomb of Smithsou. — During the .summer of 1S!>1, upon the oc(;asion 

 of ii visit to Europe, I made a s])ecial journey to Genoa for the purpose 

 of seeing if the phxee of sepulture of the founder of the Institution was 

 properly cared for. The tomb of Smithson is on the hill of San Be- 

 nigno, high above the Gulf of Genoa, in a small obscure cemetery, 

 whose existence is unknown to most of the people of the city. It is the 

 property of the English Government and in the immediate charge of 

 the British consul. Smithson's tomb is a substantial structure, but it 

 appears to have had no attention during the sixty years of its existence, 

 though other tombs in the small inclosure give evidence of continued 

 care. A small sum of money, the interest of which is sufficient to de- 

 fray the expense of the care of the inclosure and tomb, was i)laced to 

 the credit of the United States consul at Genoa, who kindly consented 

 to take charge of the matter. 



Statue of Prof. Baird. — A bill to provide for the erection of a bronze 

 statue of Prof. Baird in the grounds of the Institution was introduced 

 in the Senate by Mr. Morrill, but failed to pass. This was a renewal 

 of previous efforts in this direction and the result is particularly disap- 

 pointing to the friends of the Institution. 



Statue ofRohert Dale Given. — A bill to appropriate $20,000 for a statue 

 to the Hon. Eobert Dale Owen, of Indiana, first chairman of the Board 

 of Regents of the Institution and one of its staunchest friends, was in- 

 troduced in the Senate by Mr. Voorhees and passed, but failed to secure 

 favorable action in the House. 



Perkins collection of copper implements. — An amendment to the Sun- 

 dry Civil Bill providing for the purchase by the Institution of a further 

 collection of prehistoric copper implements belonging to Mr. Freder- 

 ick S. Perkins, was proposed, but failed to secure favorable action in the 

 House. 



Stereotype plates. — The Institution is possessed of a large collection 

 of stereotype plates and engravers' blocks. An effort has been made 

 to arrange these in a systematic manner to facilitate reference, but 

 owing to the pressure of routine work, nuicli yet remains to be done in 

 this direction. It is the policy of the Institution to permit the use of 

 these plates by pubhshers under reasonable conditions. 



Government collections at Washington. — There was passed during the 

 first session of the Fifty-second Congress a joint resolution (H. Res. 92) 

 defining the policy of the Government with reference to the scientific 

 and literary collections, designed to facilitate the use of such collections 

 by students, and to encourage the establishment of institutions of learn- 

 ing at the national capital. 



Assignment of rooms. — Pendulum observations by officers of the U. S. 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey have been continued in a, basement room 

 specially fitted for such work. 



The use of the "chapel" of the Smithsonian building was granted 



