REPORT OF THE SECIIKTARY. 



To the Board of llegents of the Smithsonian Institution: 



Gentlemen : Besides the care of ail tlie propt-rty of the Institution, aiu! 

 the responsibility of the direction of its operations, under the control of the 

 Regents, the secretary is required to give anaccouni, at their annual session, 

 of the condition of the Institution, and of its transactions during ihe pre- 

 ceding year. 



In the discharge of this duty on the present occasion, I am lia{>py to 

 inform the Regeiits that the Institution under their care is still in a prosper- 

 ous condition, "and that since their last meeting, it has continued silently, 

 but effectually, to enlarge the 5'phei-e of its influence and usefulness, and to 

 elicit from every part of the civilized world commendations, not only ot 

 the plan of organization it lias adopted, but also of the results it has 

 produced. 



In my last report I gave a lirief account of the means employed to in- 

 crease the income, so that in addition to the requirements of Corsgress in 

 regard to the formation of a library and a museum, and the erection of a 

 building on a liberal scale, operations of a more active characlei' could he 

 incorporated into tlie plan of organization. 



During the past year the same policy has been observed: and though 

 the ollicers of the Institudon have been subjected to the inronvenience of 

 transactinsj business in an unfinished hui]din<r, and in rooms not intended for 

 the purpose, yet this has been considered ot minor nnj)ortance m comparison 

 with the saving of the funds. Every dollar nou' expended on th(> buihling 

 ies.sens the amount of accruing interest, and diminishes the means of produ- 

 cing results which are to affect the world at large; hence the importance oi 

 an adherence to the plan of finishing it by degrees. Since the last session of 

 the board, it has, theiefore, not been thought advisable to urge the contractor 

 to a rapid completion of his work, and all the expenditures on account ot 

 the building have been made from the accrued interest of the current year, 

 and from a portion ot that of the year preceding. There is consequently 

 still on hand the two hundred thousand dollars of accumulated interest men- 

 tioned in the last and preceding reports. Of this, it will be recollected, 

 $50,000 are to be applied towards finishing the building, and the remain- 

 der to be invested as part of the j>rincipal. 



The importance of increasing the funds and of gradua^ly developing the 

 operations embraced in the programme, was set forth in the last report. 

 The Institution, it is to be hoped, is not one of a day, but is to endure as 

 llong as our government shall last; it is therefore necessary, in the begin- 

 ning, that we should constantly look to the future, and guard against the 

 temptation, to which we are continually exposed, of expanding too rapidly. 



By a resolution of the board, at their session in 1849, theSecretary was 

 directed to petition Congress to take from the Inslitution f>L-30,000, and 

 such otlier sums, not exceeding in all $200,000, as may have been, or shall 



