The Genesis of the United States Nationat Museum. 137 



elsewhere, hy the continued and generous assistance of the officers of the Army 

 and Navy, of our foreign ministers and consuls, as well as the mem])ers of Congress 

 and many in private life, I think it may be safely said we hope to advance still 

 farther and faster, till we render the Institute, in many respects, worthy its unri- 

 valed position and the growing country to which it belongs.' 



This was followed up by a memorial to Congress, which, having never 

 before been published, is here presented,^ and which was favorably acted 

 upon by the Library Committee, who adopted the report submitted by 

 Senator Choate concerning the similar memorial of 1844. No action was, 

 however, taken. 



Still another appeal was made ' to the Twenty-ninth Congress, which 

 was presented to the Senate by Lewis Cass, and to the House of Repre- 

 sentatives by John Quincy Adams. This, too, was fruitless. 



In 1846 also, as we have seen, Mr. Ingersoll, always a faithful friend 

 of the society, endeavored to establish a connection between it and the 

 Smithsonian Institution in the administration of a National Museum, but 

 the effort failed at the last moment, and the Regents of the Institution 

 were not inclined to take advantage of the privilege of putting this 

 building as a wing to the Patent Office, as they might have done. 



In the organization of the Smithsonian Institution the National Insti- 

 tute was practically left out of account and the hopes of many years 

 were blasted. What was still more discouraging was that power had been 

 given to the new corporation to take possession of all Government collec- 

 tions in the custody of the Institute, on the possession of which its chief 

 claim to a subsidy was founded, and in connection with which a consid- 

 erable debt had been contracted," as is indicated by Mr. Rush's letter of 

 July, 1846. 



In the ' ' Notice to the members of the National Institute ' ' which served 

 as an introduction to its fourth bulletin, dated November 25, 1846, a 

 pitiful statement of the condition of the society is given: 



More than a thousand boxes, barrels, trunks, etc. , embracing collections of value, 

 variety, and rarity in literature, in the arts, and in natural history, remain on hand 

 unopened — the liberal contributions of members at home and abroad — of Govern- 

 ments, of learned and scientific societies and institutions of foreign countries and 

 of our own — and of munificent friends and patrons in every part of the world. P^or 

 the preservation, reception, and display of these, the Institute has neither funds nor 

 a suitable depository. s 



This was a fatal condition of affairs, for the formation of a museum 

 was the one object which, out of the many specified, seemed to have 

 finally absorbed the energies and the limited income of the National 

 Institute. 



' Annual address, pp. 33, 34. ^ Note E. ^ Note F. 



t Colonel Abert estimated the amount in 1S44 at |i,5oo and it was now doubtless 

 greater. 



5 Proceedings of the National Institute, 4th Bull., p. 481. 



