REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 41 



for important courtesies. Capt. John M. Dow, the resident agent of the 

 company at Panama, has continued to be of the utmost service to the 

 Institution, not only in transmitting valuable collections, but also in 

 taking charge of packages of books and specimens to and from the Insti- 

 tution. At his suggestion the president of the company has kindly of- 

 fered the facilities of the line to any explorer we may wish to send to 

 investigate the natural history, and especially the ichthyology, of Cen- 

 tral America. Arrangements will be made in the coming year to take 

 advantage of this desirable offer. 



Corcoran Gallery of Art. — One of the departments of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, as designated by the act of incorporation, was the mainten- 

 ance of a gallery of art. On the establishment of the Corcoran Art 

 Gallery, with ample funds for the acquisition of paintings, engravings, 

 and statuary, and suitable accommodations for their display, the 

 BegentSj under the authority vested in them by Congress, authorized 

 the transfer to that establishment of the collections of the art gallery j 

 and at present there is but little of importance in the Smithsonian 

 building, especially since the delivery to the Library of Congress of 

 <he valuable collection of engravings purchased some years ago by 

 the Institution from the Hon. George P. Marsh, at present United 

 States minister to Italy. The Institution, however, still retains the 

 series of busts in plaster and marble of eminent historical personages 

 Df both the Old and the New World. 



Most of the objects in the art department were derived from the col- 

 lections of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, an 

 organization which, after twenty years' existence, expired by limitation 

 of charter, in accordance with which its property, in specimens, books, 

 (fee, was turned over to the Smithsonian Institution. Among the 

 paintings transferred was a full-length portrait of General Washington, 

 paiuted by the late Mr. Charles W. Peale. By authority of a law 

 of Congress this was sent to the International Exhibition of 1876 in 

 Philadelphia, and arranged with the other art collections. It was 

 subsequently transferred to the halls of the Academy of Fine Arts in 

 Philadelphia, It was, however, reclaimed by the Institution during 

 the past year, and placed in the Corcoran Art Gallery, where it now 

 remains. The ownership of this picture is claimed by Mr. Titian R. 

 Peale, a son of Mr. Charles W. Peale, its painter, and his claim for 

 compensation is now before Congress. 



Treasury Department. — Revenue Marine. — Reference has already 

 been made to the co-operation of the Treasury Department in the scien- 

 tific work of the Institution, in instructing Captain Ilooper to take Mr. 

 Nelson on board the " Corwin " for the special purpose of making an 

 investigation of the ethnological peculiarities of the natives of St. 

 Lawrence Island. In many other cases the revenue marine has ren- 

 dered essential assistance to science by its co-operation. Many valuable 



