JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 123 



were not desirous to retain in their hands the extra funds of the 

 institution; whereupon, after remarks as to the proper disposition 

 of the money, on motion of Mr. Warner, it was — 



Resolved, That the committee appointed on the 24th of February, 1855, be directed 

 to inquire and report upon the propriety and manner of permanently investing the 

 money of the institution now in the hands of Messrs. Corcoran & lliggs. 



The Secretary read a communication from Frederick Gotteri, of 

 Malta, received through the Department of State, relative to the 

 establishment of a school for the instruction of persons in this 

 country in silk culture and manufactures. 



On motion, the letter was referred to the Commissioner of Pat- 

 ents. 



A communication from John Phillips, Esq., Assistant General 

 Secretary of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 was read, containing the following extract from the proceedings of 

 that body : 



"A communication from Professor Henry, of Washington, having been read con- 

 taining a proposal for the publication of a catalogue of philosophical memoirs scat- 

 tered throughout the transactions of societies in Europe and America, with the offer 

 of co-operation on the part of the Smithsonian Institution, to the extent of preparing 

 and publishing, in accordance with the general plan which might be adopted by the 

 British Association, a catalogue of all the American memoirs on physical science, the 

 committee approve of the suggestion, and recommend that Mr. Caylcy, Mr. Grant, 

 and Professor Stokes, be appointed a committee to consider the best system of arrange- 

 ment, and to report thereon to the council." 



The Secretary having stated to the Board that a number of the 

 steamship and railroad companies had granted special facilities to 

 the institution, in forwarding its packages free of cost, and particu- 

 larly in granting a free passage to its agent sent to California to 

 make collections in natural history, &c. 



On motion of General Totten, the following resolution was 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That the Secretary, on the part of the Kegents of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, return thanks to the United States Mail Steamship Company, M. O. Iloberts, 

 president; Pacific Mail Steamship Company, W. II. Aspinwall, president; South 

 American Mail Steamship Company, Don Juan Matheson, president; Mexican Gulf 

 Steamship Company, Harris & Morgan, agents ; and the Panama Itailroad Company, 

 David Hoagley, president, for their liberality and generous offices in relation to the 

 transportation, without charge, of articles connected with the operations of the insti- 

 tution. 



The Secretary read the following letter : 



Hamilton Collkqe, 

 Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y., February 2, 1856. 

 To the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution : 



The trustees of Hamilton College, in the State of New York, made, on the 22d day 

 of July, 1854, a contract with Messrs. C. A. Spencer & Co., of Canastota, in the same 

 State, for the construction of an " equatorial telescope of the first class, with all the 

 mountings and other incidents necessary and usual thereto." 



There is a provision in this agreement, that " when the telescope and work are 



