8 THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



The building is erected in a very substantial manner. The founaati^n walls 

 under the main central towers are 12 feet thick at bottom, gradually diminishing 

 to five feet six inches at the surface of the ground, and are sunk eight feet deep. 

 The thickness of the walls of the main building above the water table is two feet 

 and-a-half in the first story, and two feet in the second, exclusive of buttresses, 

 corbel courses, &c The walls of the wings are two feet thick ; of the central towers 

 three feet and a half thick in the first story, diminishing to two feet in the highest 

 story. The roofs are slated. The face of the building is finished in ashlar, laid 

 in courses from 10 to 15 inches in height, and having an average bed of nine 

 inches. 



The material employed is a lilac gray variety of freestone, found in the new red 

 sandstone formation where it crosses the Potomac, near the mouth of Seneca 

 Creek, one of its tributaries, and about twenty -three miles above Washington. 

 When first quarried it is comparatively soft, working freely before the chisel and 

 hammer ; but by exposure it gradually indurates, and ultimately acquires tough- 

 ness and consistency, that not only enables it to resist the changes of the atmos- 

 phere, but even the most severe mechanical wear and tear. 



The corner-stone of the building was laid with Masonic ceremonies, on the first 

 of May, 1847, in the presence of President Polk, his Cabinet, and an immense 

 concourse of citizens and strangers. The Grand Master of Masons, who performed 

 the ceremony, wore the apron presented by the Grand Lodge of France to Wash- 

 ington, through La Fayette, and used the gavel employed by Washington when 

 he laid the first corner-stone of the Capitol of the United States. An oration was 

 delivered by the Hon. George Mifflin Dallas, the first Chancellor of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and now United States Minister to Great Britain. In the course of his 

 remarks Mr. Dallas said : " When, at no distant day, I trust, it shall be seen 

 that within the walls of this building the truths of nature are forced by persever. 

 ing researches from their hidden recesses, mingled with the stock already hoarded 

 by genius and industry, and thence profusely scattered, by gratuitous lectures or 

 publications, for the benefit of all — when it shall be seen that here universal 

 science finds food, implements, and a tribune — art her spring to invention, her 

 studio, and her models ; and both shall have throngs of disciples from the ranks 

 of our people, emulous for enlightenment, or eager to assist — then the condition of 

 our legacy will have been performed, and the wide philanthropy of Smithson have 

 achieved its aim." 



The design, by James Renwick, Jr., of New York, consists of a main center 

 building, two stories high, and two wings, connected by intervening ranges; each 

 of these latter having, on the north or principal front, a cloister, with open 

 stone screen. 



The first story of the main building consists of one large room, 200 feet by 50, 

 and 25 feet high, the ceiling of which is supported by two rows of columns ex- 

 lending the whole length ; at the middle of the space corresponding to the prin- 

 cipal entrances are two wing walls, by which, with the addition of screens, the 

 whole space may be divided into two large rooms, with a hall extending across. 



