322 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



The Secretary read a copy of the memorial which had been prepared in 

 accordance with the directions of the Board, signed by the Chancellor and Sec- 

 retary, and presented to Congress,* as follows : 



To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled: 



In behalf of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, the 

 undersigned beg leave respectfully to submit to your honorable bod}'' the fol- 

 lowing statement, and to solicit such action in regard to it as may be deemed 

 just and proper : 



The act of Congress organizing the Institution ordered the erection of a, 

 building which should accommodate, on a liberal scale, besides a library and a 

 gallery of art, a museum, consisting of all the specimens of natural history, 

 geology, and art, which then belonged to the government, or which might there- 

 after come into its possession by exchange or otherwise. Although the majority 

 of the Regents did not consider the maintenance of these objects to be in accord- 

 ance with the intention of Smithson, as inferred from a strict interpretation of 

 the terms of his will, yet in obedience to the commands of Congress they pro- 

 ceeded to erect a building of the necessary dimensions, and to take charge of 

 the government collections. 



The erection and maintenance of so large and expensive an edifice, involving 

 an outlay of $450,000, and the charge of the government museum, have proved 

 a grievous burden on the Institution, increasing from year to year, which, had 

 not its effects been counteracted by a judicious management of the funds, would 

 have paralyzed the legitimate operations of the establishment, and frustrated 

 the evident intention of Smithson. 



It is true that Congress, at the time the specimens were transferred to tho 

 Institution, granted an appropriation of $4,000 for their care and preservation, 

 that being the equivalent of the estimated cost of the maintenance of these 

 collections in the Patent Office, where they had previously been exhibited. 

 But this sum, from the rise in prices and the expansion of the museum by the 

 specimens obtained from about fifty exploring expeditions ordered by Congress, 

 scarcely more than defrays, at the present time, one-third of the annual expense. 

 In this estimate no account is taken of the rent of the part of the building 

 devoted to the museum of tho government, which, at a moderate estimate, 

 would bo $20,000 per annum. 



Besides the large expenditure which has already been made on tho building, 

 at least $50,000 more will bo required to finish tho large hall in the second 

 story, necessary for the full display of the specimens of the government. But 

 the Regents do not think it judicious further to embarrass the active operations 

 for several years to come, by devoting a large part of the income to this object, 

 and have, therefore, concluded to allow this room to remain unfinished until 

 other means are provided for completing it. 



It is not by its castellated building nor the exhibition of the museum of tho 

 government that the Institution has achieved its present reputation, nor by tho 

 collection and display of material objects of any kind that it has vindicated the 

 intelligence and good faith of tho government in the administration of the 

 trust; it is by its explorations, its researches, its publications, its distribution of 

 specimens and its exchanges, constituting it an active, living organization, that 

 it has rendered itself favorably known in every part of the civilized world, has 

 made contributions to almost every branch of science, and brought more than 

 ever before into intimate and friendly relations tho Old and the New Worlds. 



A central museum for a complete representation of the natural products of 

 America, with such foreign specimens as may be required for comparison and 

 generalization, is of great importance, particularly as a means of developing 



* May 1. — In the House of Representatives. — Referred to tho Committee on Appropriations 

 and ordered to be printed. 



