506 REPORTS OP THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



PUBLICATIONS, RESEARCHES, AND LECTURES. 



Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge $5,500 00 



Keports on the progress of knowledge 1,000 00 



Other publications 355 00 



Meteorology 1,000 00 



Investigations, computations, and researches 500 00 



Lectures 800 00 



),155 00 



LIBRARY, MUSEUM, AND GALLERY OF ART. 



Library — 



Cost of books 3,500 00 



Pay of assistants 2,500 00 



Transportation 300 00 



Incidentals 500 00 



Museum — 



Salary of Assistant Secretary 2,000 00 



Explorations 200 00 



Collections 150 00 



Alcohol, glass jars, &c. 500 00 



Transportation 300 00 



Assistance and labor 500 00 



•Gallery of art 100 00 



10,550 00 

 $39,000 00 



Kespectfully submitted, 



J. A. PEAKCE,-) 



J. G. TOTTEN, [ Executive Committee. 



A. D BACHE, J 



Report of the Executive Committee for the year 1856. 



The Executive Committee submit the following report of the state of the finances 

 ■of the Smithsonian Institution, the expenditures during the year 1856, and an esti- 

 mate of receipts and appropriations for 1857. 



The whole sum appropriated for the current expenses of the Institution for the 

 year 1856, including the remaining payment on the building, was thirty-nine thou- 

 sand dollars. The actual expenditures for the several items do not materially differ 

 from those specified in the estimate submitted by the committee and adopted by the 

 Board. The whole sum expended was $38,158.90, which is less than the amount 

 appropriated by $841.10. 



A committee was appointed February 24, 1855, consisting of Messrs. English, 

 Peai-ce, and Mason, to consider the best means of investing the extra fund, Mr. Cor- 

 coran having signified his intention to relinquish the charge of the money deposited 

 with him. After due consultation, the committee concluded to recommend the pur- 

 chase of State stocks. This being agreed to by the Board, at a subsequent meeting 

 the Secretary was instructed to make the purchase under the direction of the Finance 

 Committee. An account of the transaction under this resolution is given in the 

 report of the Hon. Mr. English of that committee. 



It will be recollected that the extra fund amounted to one hundred and twenty-five 

 thousand dollars, and from the report of Mr. English it will be seen that of this sum 

 one hundred and nineteen thousand four hundred dollars have been expended in the 

 purchase of State stocks ; that six hundred dollars remain in the hands of Messrs. 

 Biggs & Co.; and that five thousand dollars of that fund, applied in 1855 to the pay- 

 ments on the building, is now in the Treasury. There is, therefore, five thousand 

 six hundred dollars of the extra fund uninvested. It is, however, not advisable to 

 invest this immediately, because the half-yearly income of the Institution is not 

 receivable until the first of July, and it is necessary to retain a sufficient sum in the 

 Treasury to meet the payments for paper, printing, &c, for the next volume of Con- 

 tributions, which cannot be postponed. 



