126 Mcuwrial of George Broivn Goode. 



Directors. But I refused, on the ground that I would not be the medium of bringing 

 forward misunderstood or exaggerated facts, for discussion or action, j^referring the 

 course of the inclosed letter, as it will procure the desired information from the best 

 authority and under its true aspect. It seems to me that the Institute is the last 

 which should receive unkindness from anyone whose fame is connected with 

 the results of the exploring squadron, for without the interference of the Institute 

 where would these results have been ; and without its future care what will become 

 of them, for what other body in whose care they can be placed has a permanent 

 domicile at Washington. 



J. J. Abert. 

 Capt. Wilkes. 



LETTER FROM COLONEL ABERT TO CAPTAIN WILKES, SEPTEMBER 5, 1S43. 



Sir : It is contemplated soon to have a meeting of the Directors of the National 

 Institute, at which matters of much interest to the Institute will be brought up. 

 Understanding that you have been placed in charge of the room in which both 

 Institute and ex. [ploring] expedition curiosities are deposited, and anxious that at 

 our meeting the Directors should be fully and correctly informed, allow us to beg of 

 you the favor of an early answer to the following queries : 



1. Have directions been given to remove the property of the Institute and that 

 under its care, except exploring expedition specimens, from the room in which they 

 now are or from the cases in which they have been deposited, or are such directions 

 contemplated ? 



2. Are the persons employed at the room and paid by the U. S. prohibited from 

 bestowing any attention upon any other than ex. [ploring] exp. [edition] specimens, 

 from opening the boxes of presents sent to the Institute, cleaning, arranging, and 

 attending to the same? 



3. Will any of the persons employed at the room and paid by the U. S. be allowed 

 to bestow any of their time and talents upon the preservation and arrangement of 

 the collections, except those of the ex. [ploring] squadron? 



4. Can the Institute count with sufficient certainty upon the services of any person 

 so employed so as to invest him or them as curators or assistants with the requisite 

 authority from the Institute? 



You will readily perceive the importance of these questions to the Institute, and 

 how eminently they invoke the security and preservation of the valuable and extensive 

 collection under its care ; you will, therefore I hope, pardon us in the request of an 



early answer. 



J. J. Abert. 

 Capt. Charles Wilkes, 



U. S. Navy, Washington . 



LETTER FROM CAPTAIN WILKES TO COLONEL ABERT, SEPTEMBER 16, 1843. 



Washington City, i6Sepi., 18^3. 



My Dear Sir : Your friendly letter was received on my return to the city after a 

 short absence, which will account for your not having an earlier reply. 



I can not acknowledge any right in a committee of the Nat. [ional] Ins. [titute] 

 to call upon me for any explanations whatever relative to my official duties or 

 actions, particularly when such a call is based upon (as yovi inform me) "painful 

 reports" of which I have no knowledge and little regard, and can not help express- 

 ing my astonishment that any members of a scientific society should have given 

 credence to them, to have authorized an action on the part of one of their com- 

 mittees before they had ascertained that they were true. 



