National Scientific and Jutncational Institutions. 3 i r 



National University, on the site now occupied 1)y the National Observa- 

 tory, and stipulated that, should this site not be found available, another 

 spot of ground, appropriated on the early maps to a marine hospital, 

 might be substituted. The Columbian Institute, already referred to, 

 had begun the formation of an arboretum as early as 1822, and in 1829 

 applied unsuccessfully to Congress for an appropriation to reimburse it 

 for its expenditures. There was, however, no definite foundation until 

 1852, when the numerous living plants which had been brought back by 

 the Wilkes Exploring Expedition in the Pacific, and which had for 

 several years been kept in greenhouses adjoining the Patent Office, in 

 which the natural-history collections of the expedition were kept, were 

 removed to the present site of the Botanical Garden on the south side of 

 Pennsylvania avenue just west of the Capitol. This garden was first 

 under the direction of Mr. W. D. Brackenridge, who had.been the horti- 

 culturist of the Wilkes Expedition. Mr. Brackenridge was succeeded by 

 Mr. William R. vSmith, a pupil of the Kew Botanical Garden, who has since 

 been in charge of the establishment, and through whose industry it has 

 been developed into a most creditable institution, which, it is hoped, 

 \\\a,y in time have an opportunity to exhibit its merits in a more suitable 

 and less crowded locality. 



Under Jackson, from 1829 to 1837, notwithstanding the remarkable 

 commercial prosperity and an almost equal advance in literature, science 

 did not prosper, and of actual progress there is little to record. The 

 Coast Survey was reorganized under its original Superintendent, Hassler, 

 in 1832, and Featherstonehaugh, an English geologist, made, in 1834, 

 a reconnoissance in the elevated region between the Missouri and the 

 Red River. 



Van Buren's Administration, which began in 1S37 and ended in 1841, 

 presents more points of interest, for although the country was in a state 

 of financial depression, his Cabinet was composed of extremely liberal 

 and public- spirited men. Poinsett as Secretary of War, Kennedy as Sec- 

 retary of the Navy, and other public men did much to promote science. 



The United States Exploring Expedition was sent out under Captain 

 Charles Wilkes, on a voyage of circumnavigation. Although published 

 in an extremely limited edition, the magnificent volumes of its report 

 are among the classics of scientific exploration. 



The Wilkes Expedition was the first of the series of naval explora- 

 tions which have contributed largely to science — Eynch's Dead Sea 

 Expedition, Gilliss's Naval Astronomical Expedition to Chile, Herndon 

 and Gibbons' s Exploration of the Valley of the Amazons, Page's Para- 

 guay Expedition, the Cruise of the Dolphin, Perry's Japan Expedition, 

 Rogers's North Pacific Exploring Expedition, and the various expedi- 

 tions made under the Hydrographic Office and the Coast Sun^ey. 



In 1840 two important national societies were founded — the National 

 Institution for the Promotion of Science, and the American Society of 

 Geologists and Naturalists — the one an association with a great mem- 



