THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1849-51. 505 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



Senate, April 15, 1850. 



The bill for the completion of the Patent Office being 

 under consideration, Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, said: - 



Mr. President : What the wants of the Patent Office are 

 now is one thing, and what those wants will be in a few years 

 is another, and an entirely different thing. Not only from 

 the report of the last Commissioner of Patents, but from 

 inspection, if any one choose to make it, and see the condi- 

 tion of things in that department, I think it may be denied 

 that there is room enough in the present building for the 

 wants of the department. If I understand the report of 

 the present Commissioner of Patents or the Secretary of 

 the Interior, the argument against the want of further 

 room by the Patent Department, is based upon the supposi- 

 tion that all which now belongs to the National Institute, 

 all connected with the exploring expedition which now fills 

 the museum of the Patent Office, is to be transferred to 

 the Smithsonian Institution. That seems to be the basis of 

 the conclusion. Now, sir, I wish to state to the Senate that 

 Congress has no power to impose upon that institution the 

 duty of taking charge of this collection of the exploring 

 expedition — we may infer from their act — nor did they ever 

 intend to do so. They gave to that institution the right to 

 take all such curiosities brought home by the exploring ex- 

 pedition as might be desired for that institution, and I will 

 inform the Senate that it is not the intention of the present 

 Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to take 

 <;liarge of the nmseum of the Patent Office, and the room 

 appropriated to these curiosities will be required hereafter 

 as now. 



Senate, Jul)/ 29, 1850. 



The President jyro tempore laid before the Senate a letter 

 of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, transmitting 

 the annual report of the Board of Regents. 



On motion by Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, 



Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Printing, with instruc- 

 tions to inquire into the expediency of printing five thousand additional 

 copies without the Appendix. 



Senate, Julf/ 30, 1850. 



Mr. Hamlin, from the Committee on Printing, reported 

 In favor of printing the Report of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, with 5,000 additional copies without the Appendix, 500 



