372 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



has been reported to the House. The gentleman also rec- 

 ommended, that the original fand (it is about $515,000) be 

 preserved unimpaired, and that yearly appropriations be 

 made from the accruing interest only, (which will amount, 

 on the first of July next, to about $242,000;) a feature 

 which has been incorporated, I believe, in every Smithso- 

 nian bill heretofore submitted to Congress. The restrictions 

 suggested by the gentleman from Massachusetts, have been 

 so far retained in the present bill as to exclude from the In- 

 stitution " any school of law, medicine, or divinity, or any 

 professorship of ancient languages." 



At the last session, a bill was introduced into the other 

 branch by Senator Tappan. Its plan included an experi- 

 mental farm, botanical garden, and conservatories ; cabinets 

 of natural history, a chemical laboratory, a library with an 

 annual appropriation not exceeding five thousand dollars, 

 scientific lectureships, and an establishment for printing 

 scientific tracts and other useful treatises. All instruction 

 to be gratuitous. 



This bill was subsequently so amended by the Senate, that 

 the lectures were restricted to a course or courses to be de- 

 livered during the session of Congress, at an expense not 

 exceeding five thousand dollars annually ; and the printing, 

 to a publication of these lectures ; while the annual appro- 

 priation for a library was to be " not less than twenty thou- 

 sand dollars." 



The experimental farm, botanical garden, and conserva- 

 tories, as well as the museum, laboratory, and scientific 

 cabinets, were nominally retained : but how these were to 

 be supported, considering that at least two-thirds of the en- 

 tire income was annually to be spent on the library, does 

 not very clearly appear. 



This library plan, as it was commonly called, passed the 

 Senate and reached our House. An amendment or sub- 

 stitute, nearly similar to the present bill, was substituted by 

 myself and printed; but, in the hurry of a short session, 

 the whole matter was left once more among the unfinished 

 business. 



As this Senate bill is the only one, establishing a Smith- 

 sonian Institution, that has yet passed either branch of 

 Congress, its principal feature demands our deliberate and 

 respectful consideration. 



The library contemplated by this bill, it was expressly 

 provided, was to be " of the largest class of libraries now 

 in the world." We shall better understand both the object 

 and the cost of this proposal, by taking as a commentary 



