THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 759 



all objects of art and of foreign and curious research, and 

 all objects of natural history, plants, and geological and 

 mineralogical specimens belonging, or hereafter to belong, 

 to the United States, which may be in the city of Wash- 

 ington, in whosesoever custody the same may be, shall be 

 delivered to such persons as may be authorized by the 

 Board of Regents to receive them, and shall be arranged in 

 such order, and so classed, as best to facilitate the examina- 

 tion and study of them, in the building so as aforesaid to be 

 erected for the Institution; and the Regents of said Insti- 

 tution shall afterwards, as new specimens in natural history, 

 geology, or mineralogy, may be obtained for the museum of 

 the Institution, by exchanges of duplicate specimens be- 

 longing to the Institution, (which they are hereby authorized 

 to make,) or by donation, which they may receive, or other- 

 wise, cause such new specimens to be also appropriately 

 classed and arranged. And the minerals, books, manu- 

 scripts, and other property of James Smithson, which have 

 been received by the Government of the United States, and 

 are now placed in the Department of State, shall be removed 

 to said Institution, and shall be preserved separate and apart 

 from other property of the Institution. 



Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the 

 Board of Regents shall take charge of the building and 

 property of said Institution, and shall, under their direction, 

 make a fair and accurate record of all their proceedings, to 

 be preserved in said Institution ; and the said Secretary shall 

 also discharge the duties of librarian and keeper of the 

 museum, and may, with the consent of the Board of Re- 

 gents, employ assistants ; and the said officers shall receive 

 for their services such sums as may be allowed by the Board 

 of Regents, to be paid semi-annually on the first days of 

 January and July; and the said officers shall be removable 

 by the Board of Regents, whenever, in their judgment, the 

 interests of the Institution require any of the said officers 

 to be changed. 



