776 MEMOIRS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



him that my bill was in substance that which had been unani- 

 mously reported by the committee of the House at the last 

 session, and that I should move its reference to a select com- 

 mittee now. He asked me to name to him members whom 

 I should wish to have on the committee. The House got 

 into a snarl about the numbers of the President's message 

 to be printed, and finally, upon a motion of reconsideration 

 by Waddy Thompson, between three and four, adjourned. 



December 30, 1839. 



I introduced my bill concerning the Smithsonian bequest, 

 which was read twice, and referred to a select committee of 

 nine. The Speaker told me he meant to put Dixon H. 

 Lewis upon the committee. 



January 13, 1840. 



Mr. Hassler paid me a visit. He is yet employed, under 

 the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the 

 survey of the coast, and upon the construction of weights 

 and measures for use in the different States. But I found 

 him much disposed to take hold of the Smithsonian bequest ; 

 to which I gave no encouragement. His plan was for the 

 establishment of an astronomical school before the erection 

 of an observatory. At the head of this astronomical school 

 he would naturally find his place, and would contrive to ab- 

 sorb the whole fund in the management of it. I promised 

 again to visit his establishment here, and asked him for in- 

 formation of the prices of the astronomical instruments 

 which he purchased for the United States Government at 

 London in 1815, and concerning some of the principal 

 astronomers, and astronomical establishments, and makers 

 of astronomical instruments, in Europe at this time. 



January 15, 1840. 



At half-past ten this morning the Committee on the Smith- 

 sonian Bequest bill met in the chamber of the Committee 

 of Manufactures. Present, Adams, Ogle, Shepard, Garland, 

 of Virginia, Albert Smith, Barnard, and Corwin ; absent, 

 Lewis, of Alabama, who, by accident, was not notified, and 

 Campbell, of South Carolina, who came in after the meet- 

 ing adjourned, having been engaged in the Committee of 

 Elections. The bill was read. I proposed that the chair- 

 man should be authorized to prepare a report to be submit- 

 ted to the committee, containing a review of what had 

 been hitherto done by Congress on the subject, and a brief 



