REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 5 



of the fund sit their disposal for the support of so large an undertaking. 

 The cost of the extensive and elaborate building, designed mainly For the 

 accommodation of the Museum and Library, would have drawn heavily 

 upon the principal of the fund, had not a policy of delay prevailed, nine 

 years being allowed to elapse between the laying of the corner stone, 

 in 1S4»;. and the completion of the .structure. This delay gave oppor- 

 tunity for influencing a change of sentiment, so that when, in 1857, the 

 necessary arrangement became possible, ( longress was prepared to vote 

 means for building cases, for transferring the specimens from the 

 Patent Otiice, and. to a certain extent, for the care and preservation 

 of the collections. So inadequate, however, were the sums granted 

 that for many years the slender income of the Institution was heavily 

 drawn upon to insure the maintenance of what was then called the 

 Smithsonian Museum, and justly enough, since the building was paid 

 for out of the Smithson fund, and considerable portions of the collec- 

 tions were and still are the actual property of the Institution, through 

 exploration, gift, and purchase, and a number of the officials in charge 

 of the collections were employed at its expense. 



While the collections in the custody of the National Institute 

 remained at the Patent Office, as before stated, until 1858, material 

 for a museum was in the meantime being accumulated at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. The first scientific collection to come into its pos- 

 session, and, in fact, it accompanied the bequest, was the small but 

 valuable mineralogical cabinet of James Smithson, the founder, who 

 was himself, a chemist and mineralogist of repute and a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society of London. This collection was unfortunately destroyed 

 by fire in 1865. The personal bent of Professor Baird, who became 

 an assistant secretary of the Institution in L850, was toward the col- 

 lection of natural-history specimens for purposes of study. With the 

 approval of Secretary Henry he put into operation plans for accom- 

 plishing this object, which, fostered and encouraged, were soon yield- 

 ing regular and abundant returns. Professor Baird's own vacations 

 were spent in field work. Officers of the Army and Navy and of 

 other branches of the Government service, fishermen, fur traders, 

 private explorers, and such powerful commercial organizations as the 

 Hudson's Bay Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company 

 were enlisted in the cause and rendered valuable assistance. The 

 influence exerted by these beginnings has been lasting and widespread, 

 as shown in the extensive natural-history operations of subsequent 

 national and State surveys, the organization of the United States Fish 

 Commission, and the support given to scientific collecting by many 

 other bureaus of the Government. 



The title •■National Museum," first recognized by Congress in L875, 

 came into general use through the display of the Government collec- 

 tions at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. This was 



