io8 Memorial of Geoi'ge Broiv]i Goode. 



and advantage, and to add my heartfelt satisfaction at the prosperity which, by the 

 untiring exertions and fervid zeal of its executive officers, it has attained. I believe 

 it eminently deserving of the fostering care and liberal patronage of the Congress of 

 the United States, and could anticipate no happier close to my public life than to 

 contribute, by my voice and by my vote, to record the sanction of the nation's 

 munificence to sustain the National Institute devoted to the cause of science. 



The Hon. Richard Rush, in a paper on The Smithsonian Bequest, 

 submitted to this meeting, urged that the Smithsonian fund should l^e 

 "engrafted upon the National Institute," and submitted an elaborate 

 argument in favor of his proposal. 



It was a gala week for the National Institution. The meeting was in 

 every respect a success, and there was every reason to believe that Con- 

 gress would share in the general enthusiasm and take the society under 

 its patronage. 



In the circular of invitation dated March 5, 1844, the objects of the 

 meeting as a means of strengthening the position of the society had been 

 boldly stated, and the committee did not hesitate to say that "should 

 the meeting prove as successful as the hopes of the managers in relation 

 to it are ardent, they will expect, hereafter to welcome all who may visit 

 the Association, in apartments peculiar to itself, stored with the ol)jects 

 of its honest pride and worthy of the distinguished visitors. ' ' 



Such a paper signed by such influential names as those of John C. 

 Spencer, Secretary of the Treasury, R. J. Walker, W. C. Rives, Rufus 

 Choate, of the Senate, J. R, Ingersoll and W. C. Preston, of the House of 

 Representatives, A. D. Bache, vSuperintendent of the Coast Survey, and 

 Abbot L,awrence, of Boston, was surely a powerful campaign document. 



None the less weighty was the ' ' Memorial of the Friends of Science 

 who attended the April meeting of the National Institute," signed by 

 nearly forty representative scientific men and college presidents from all 

 parts of the United vStates, .speaking in terms of high commendation of 

 the National Institute, and particularly of the extent and value of its 

 museum material, and expressing the hope "that the enlightened and 

 intelligent members of Congress will distinguish the present session by 

 the necessary appropriation of funds to an object so truly national and 

 .so truly republican." 



This indorsement of the museum work of the Institute is very cordial 

 and comprehensive, and very significant; is indicative of a decided growth 

 in pitblic opinion in regard to museums — a growth largely due in the first 

 instance to the suggestions and later to the fostering care of Mr. Poinsett 

 and his society, the National Institute. 



The hopes of the promoters of the Institute were doomed to disappoint- 

 ment. Congress adjourned without making an>' provision for its needs. 



On the 1 2th of July a new scheme was proposed for collecting money 

 from private sources l)y the efforts of trustworthy agents, and in December 

 a committee was appointed to again memorialize Congress. ' 



'Proceedings of the National Institute, 3d Bull., p. 375. 



