748 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



. PORTY-FOUKTH CONGRESS. 



Senate, April 13, 1876. 



Annual report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1875, 

 laid before the Senate. 



Mr. Hamlin moved that extra copies be printed. 



April 20, 1876. — Mr. Anthony, from the Committee on 

 Printing, reported the following resolution, which was 

 agreed to : 



Resolved, [by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring,) That 

 10,500 copies of the report of the ymithsonian Institution, for the year 

 1875, be printed ; 1,000 copies of which shall be for the use of the Senate, 

 2,000 copies for the use of the House of Representatives, and 7,500 copies 

 for the use of the Smithsonian Institution: Provided, That the aggregate 

 number of pages shall not exceed 450, and that there shall be no illustra- 

 tions, except those furnished by the Smithsonian Institution. 



January 26, 1877. — The President pro tempore presented 

 a resolution of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, adopted at a meeting held January 24, 1877, 

 asking an appropriation by Congress for the erection of a 

 suitable building, in connection with the present ediUce, for 

 the accommodation of additional collections; which was 

 referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. 



February 6, 1877. — Mr. Stevenson. I desire to present a 

 memorial from the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 which I desire to have read. It will be found to refer to a 

 subject in which the entire country must, I am sure, feel a 

 very deep interest. 



It is known to the Senate that the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion was represented at the late Centennial Exhibition at 

 Philadelphia. At the close of that exposition a number of 

 the foreign powers there represented, and who contributed 

 to that grand national display, at its close generously do- 

 nated to the Smithsonian Institution most of their articles 

 and products there exhibited. A list of the articles donated 

 and the name of the donors accompany this memorial. 

 Among these gifts will be found an exquisite pair of vases 

 valued at some $17,000. 



The motive which prompted these donations to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution was unquestionably one of amity and 

 respect entertained by the foreign powers donating them 

 for the Government of the United States. But unquestion- 

 ably these donors expected that this Government would, 

 through the agency of the Smithsonian Institution, keep 

 these articles thus donated on public exhibition, and in this 



