156 Memorial of George Brozoi Goode. 



The portion of the Smithsonian income which can be devoted to a museum, and 

 the 14,000 per annum appropriated by Congress, would not together be sufficient to 

 establish and sustain a general collection of specimens of the natural history of the 

 world. It will, therefore, be the policy of the Institution, unless other means are pro- 

 vided, to confine the collections principally to illustrations of the products of the 

 North American continent. For this purpose efforts have been made, principally 

 through the various exploring expeditions, to obtain a large number of specimens 

 of all the species of the different kingdoms of nature found in North America; and 

 at this time the collection under charge of the Institution is more extensive in num- 

 ber and variety than any other which has ever before been made relative to this por- 

 tion of the globe. It is not in accordance with the general organization of the 

 Institution to form a museum of single specimens, interesting only for their rareness, 

 but to collect a large number of specimens of each species, particularly of such as 

 have not been described, and to distribute these among the several naturalists who 

 may have the industry, ability, and the desire to study them; the primary object of 

 the Institution, namely, the increase of the existing sum of knowledge in this case, 

 as in all others, being kept prominently in view. 



The Institution has now become the curator of the collections of natural history 

 and ethnology of the government, and by law is empowered, as it appears to me, to 

 make the same disposition of the materials contained in these collections as it does 

 of those procured at its own expense ; the design will be to render the specimens 

 in the greatest degree serviceable to the advance of knowledge. The nuiseuin now 

 consists of the following collections, of which, according to Professor Baird, about 

 one-fifth were brought from the Patent Office : 



First, those of the naval expeditions; second, those of the United States geological 

 surveys; third, those of the boundary surveys; fourth, those of surveys for railroad 

 routes to the Pacific; fifth, of miscellaneous expeditions under the War and Navy 

 Departments; sixth, those of miscellaneous collections presented or deposited by socie- 

 ties and individuals; and, lastly, of an extensive series of the results of explorations 

 prosecuted by the Institution itself. By far the greater portion of the whole has been 

 made under the stimulus and immediate direction of the Smithsonian Institution. A 

 number of the special collections are still in the hands of those to whom they were 

 intrusted for scientific investigation and description. The arrangement of the cases 

 and the disposition of the articles intended for public exhibition has been a subject 

 requiring considerable thought and experiment. It was jiot only desirable to obtain 

 the largest amount of space for the accommodation of the articles, but, also, to arrange 

 the whole so as to harmonize with the architectural embellishment of the large hall 

 and thus to produce a proper aesthetical effect.' 



In 1859, the Guide Book, unofficial yet issued by an official of the staff, 

 was published with the words ' ' Guide to the Smithsonian Institution 

 and National Museum" on its cover, and about this time the words 

 ' ' National Museum of the United States ' ' were painted over the door of 

 the exhibition hall. 



Congress did not, however, give legal sanction to the use of this name 

 until nearly twenty years later, when providing for the erection of the 

 new building to receive the collections given to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion at the close of the Centennial of 1876. 



Washington, February, 18 pi. 



Smithsonian Report, 1858, pp. 40, 41. 



