50 Mis. No. 48. 



additional $2,350 may be spared in the ensuing year for the objects speci- 

 fied, without trenching on the annual building fund, or endangering the 

 accornphshment of the end had in view by the Board of Regents in adopt- 

 ing the finance resolutions of December 1, 1S4T, namely, the saving of 

 a certain sum to be added to the permanent fund. In conclusion, the 

 committee would beg leave to submit to the .Board that the amount and 

 variety of disbursements which the Executive Committee have to make, 

 and the proper keeping and recording the accounts and appropriations of 

 the Institution, require the services of a skillful accountant and book-keeper 

 for the performance of this duty, as well as the examination of accounts 

 for payment, the preparation of estimates on which to base requisitions, 

 the preparation of statements of expenditures for the examination and ap- 

 proval of the proper officers, as required by law, preliminary to their presenta- 

 tion to the Treasury Department for settlement, and such other duties of 

 accountant, book-keeper, and clerk, as the Board of Regents, the Exe- 

 cutive, and Building Committees, and the Secretary may have occasion to 



require of him. . r u «; 



The committee therefore recommend the appointment ol such an otticer, 

 at an annual salary not exceeding four hundred dollars. 

 All of which is respectfully submitted, 



^ W. W. SEATON, 



J. A. PKARCE, 

 A. D. BACHE. 

 Washington, January 1 1849. 



No. 4. 



During the past year the Smithsonian building has been advanced in a 

 manner satisfactory to the committee. ^ , 



An inexhaustible supply of freestone of excellent color and quality is 

 afforded by the quarries; and the deliveries have met with no such inter- 

 ruptions from failures in the canal as were experienced last year, to the 

 ereat delay of work upon the building. 



The east wing of the building, and the adjacent connecting range, are 

 so far completed that the architect promises a state of readiness for occupa- 

 tion early in January. He reports the whole interior of this part to be 

 finished, with the exception of the shelving of the cases— purposely de- 

 layed to enable the Secretary of the Institution to adjust it to the apparatus 

 which it is to receive. He reports, also, that the furnaces for supplying 

 warm air to these rooms, and also the ventilating apparatus, will be com- 

 pleted at the same time. 



The west wing and its connecting range are completed externally, and 

 the interior of the hall of the gallery of art— intended to be used tempora- 

 rily as a library— is well advanced. A portion of the book-cases are in 

 progress, and will be placed in this apartment until the library-room proper, 

 in the centre building, shall be ready for their reception. 



The foundations of the whole of the main building, including the 



towers, are laid, and the superstructure carried about five feet high. The 



campanile and octagonal towers, and two smaller corner towers of the centre, 



are 30 feet above their foundations. 



The architect also represents that the contractor, Mr. Cameron^ has cut 



