JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 137 



most appropriate memorial of the country from which European art, education, phi- 

 losophy, and letters took their rise. 



Miss Contaxaki, the tasteful designer of this memorial, is a native of the island of 

 Crete. At the time of the outbreak of the Greek revolution her father was a landed 

 proprietor there, and, in common with the great body of the Hellenic race, lost most 

 of his property by the rapacity and tyranny of the Turks. His family was dispersed, 

 and his daughter Elizabeth became an inmate in the family of the Eev. Dr. John H. 

 Hill, the American missionary, who established himself in Athens at the close of the 

 war for the benevolent and enlightened purpose of aiding the Greeks to reconstruct 

 the shattered edifice of civilization by establishing the school, which still continues to 

 dispense the blessings of education among the children of its first pupils in that illus- 

 trious capital. Kesiding with Dr. Hill for many years, and educated chiefly under 

 his superintendence and care, Elizabeth became known to many American travellers 

 in the East, by whom she has often been mentioned with a cordial appreciation of her 

 accomplishments and merits. Their personal relations have naturally inspired her 

 with a warm interest in the United States, heightened by the sympathies of the citi- 

 zens of America in the regeneration of her country, and the substantial aid furnished 

 by them to Greece in the hour of her utmost need. Eecently Miss Contaxaki, after a 

 visit to Constantinople, where she was received with distinction, has returned to her 

 native island, which is under the government of the Pacha of Egypt, and, by her 

 learning and ability, has succeeded in recovering, through the Moslem tribunal, a por- 

 tion of her paternal estate. 



The volume now presented to the Smithsonian Institution was sent to the great 

 Paris Exhibition of 1855, where it excited much admiration, and gained a diploma 

 for its accomplished author. She has now transmitted it for permanent deposit 

 among the treasures of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. 



The Regents of the Institution accept the gift with great pleasure, not only on ac- 

 count of its rare beauty, its intrinsic value, and the many interesting associations it 

 suggests with that famous city, called by Milton "the eye of Greece, mother of art 

 and arms," but also as an expressive symbol of the hearty good will for the American 

 republic, cherished by the enlightened spirit of a nation which has so honorably vin- 

 dicated its right to the glories of an illustrious descent by re-establishing the institu- 

 tions of freedom and learning on the soil where, in ancient times, they earliest flour- 

 ished, and with unexampled splendor. 



The committee recommends the adoption of the following resolutions by the Board : 



Resolved, That the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution accept, with gratitude, 

 the splendid memorial volume presented by Miss Elizabeth B. Contaxaki, and that 

 they recognize in the beauty, taste, and art displayed in its general execution and 

 style of its embellishment, a pleasing indication that the genius which placed the 

 ancient Greeks at the head of the civilization of the world still survives in their de- 

 scendants. 



Resolved, That a copy of the above report, and of these resolutions, be transmitted, 

 with a letter of acknowledgement from the Smithsonian Institution, to Miss Contax- 

 aki, the accomplished donor. 



On motion the report was accepted and the resolutions adopted. 

 The Board then adjourned. 



May 19, 1858. 



The Board met this day in the Vice-President's room, United 

 States Capitol, at 9 J o'clock. 



Present, the Chancellor, Hon. Roger B. Taney, Hon. John C. 

 Breckinridge, Vice-President of the United States, Hon. James M. 

 Mason, Hon. J. A. Pearce, Hon. S. A. Douglas, Hon. W. II. Eng- 

 lish, Hon. Benjamin Stanton, Professor A. D. Bache, and the Sec- 

 retary. 



The minutes were read and approved. 



Mr. Pearce explained the report of the Executive Committee and 



