4 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and proposed to send it back to England. Every conceivable proposi- 

 tion ^Yas made. The colleges clutched at it ; the libraries wanted it; 

 the publication societies desired to scatter it. The fortunate settlement 

 of the question was this : after ten years of wrangling, Congress was 

 wise enough to acknowledge its own ignorance, and authorized a body 

 of men to find some one who knew how to settle it. And tbese men 

 were wise enough to choose your great comrade to undertake the task. 

 Sacrificing his brilliant prospects as a discoverer, he undertook the diffi- 

 cult work. He drafted a paper in which he offered an interpretation of 

 the will of Smithson, mapped out a plan which would meet the de- 

 mands of science, and submitted it to the sufirage of the republic of 

 scientific scholars. After due deliberation it received the almost unan- 

 imous approval of the scientific world. With faith and sturdy perse- 

 verence he adhered to the plan, and steadily resisted all attemi^ts to 

 overthrow it. In the thirty-two years during which he administered 

 the great trust, he never swerved from his first purpose : and he suc- 

 ceeded at last in realizing the ideas with which he set out." 



By virtue of his office as President of the United States, General 

 Garfield still maintained his connection with the Institution, being by 

 law the presiding officer of the ''Establishment," and amidtbe exact- 

 ing occupations of his station, he evinced his continued interest in its 

 affairs by i^romptly attending a called meeting, and visiting officially 

 the Institution, on the 4th of last May. His loss deserves, therefore, 

 from us (apart from its national aspects) a special expression of pro- 

 found regret, and his memory a special tribute of affectionate gratitude 

 and respect. 



New Regents of the Institution. — By a very remarkable conjuncture of 

 circumstances the terms of service of the entire body of Congressional 

 Regents of the Smithsonian Institution exi^ired at the close of the 

 Forty-sixth Congress, leaving three to be appointed from the Senate 

 and three from the House of Eepresentatives. The resignation, how- 

 ever, of Hon. Hannibal Hamlin a short time before the fourth of 

 March permitted the president of the Senate to select a successor in 

 the person of Hon. George E. Hoar, who was thus the sole Congres- 

 sional Regent of the Eorty-seventh Congress on its commencement, 

 March 4, 1881. Subsequently, however, Vice-President Arthur ap- 

 l)ointed Hon. N. P. Hill, of Colorado, and Hon. S. B. Maxey, of Texas, 

 thus completing the number of Senate members of the board. 



In the law establishing the Smithsonian Institution provision was 

 made for the appointment of a new Senate Regent every second year, 

 so that at the close of each Congress there would be two members hold- 

 ing over. Owing to the failure on the part of the appointing power to 

 bear this provision in mind, as vacancies occurred Senators have been 

 appointed other than those whose terms were to extend for a full six- 

 year period. In making the recent api:>ointments the attention of the 



