REPORT OF A8STRTANT SECRETARY. 5 



of '"National Institution,'' later rhang-ed to "National Institute," 

 whii'li had for its avowed purpose the direction of the Smithson 

 be(iu(\st and the pursuit of objects in consonance with the terms of that 

 foundation. This organization, ten years before the Smithsonian 

 Institution was prepared to receive collections, gathered together ({uite 

 a quantity of historical and natural history material, which was kept 

 in the Patent Office, and which in 1802, upon the expiration of the 

 charter of the Institute, was delivered to the National Museum, 

 although a portion of the historical collection was retained at the 

 Patent Office until as late as 1883. 



The first exploring expedition affording important collections was 

 that under Lieutenant Wilkes, which started out in 1838. The 

 material from this source was turned over to what was known as the 

 National Cabinet of Curiosities, being a part of the National Institute 

 and located in the Patent Office. Serious conflicts of authority arose, 

 however, 1)etween the curator of the collection, the Commissioner of 

 Patents, and the authorities of the National Institute, and in 1857 these 

 collections were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. As Doc- 

 tor Goode has aptly put it: "From the marriage of the National Cabi- 

 net of Curiosities with the Smithsonian Institution the National 

 Museum of the United States was born." 



In 1850 Prof. Spencer F. Baird was appointed Assistant Secretary 

 of the Institution, and, with the approval of Secretar}" Henry, he at 

 once entered into relations with the numerous surveying parties then 

 exploring throughout the western country to secure through them 

 natural history and ethnological collections. Added to these were the 

 exertions of officers of the Army engaged in similar work, some of 

 whom were themselves experts in natural history or ethnology. 



In 1871 a new important avenue for increasing the collections of the 

 National Museum was opened by the establishment of the Fish Com- 

 mission, under the direction of Professor Baird. Many explorations 

 have been carried on by the Commission with a view to increasing sci- 

 entific knowledge, in order that results useful to the people might flow 

 therefrom. One of the chief factors in this work has been the steamer 

 Alhatross, especially built for dredging and for making collections of 

 the fauna of the deep sea. 



These and numerous other agencies, whether through surveys or 

 departments of the Government, through industrial and commercial 

 enterprises pushing their way into the little-known regions of the west 

 and north or through the zeal of private individuals, brought together 

 a great mass of valuable, if heterogeneous, material, to which was 

 added at the close of the exposition in 1876, partly by gift of foreign 

 countries and partly from private exhibitors, so great a quantity of 

 specimens as to render imperative the erection of a separate building 

 for the national collections. 



