432 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



by and with the consent of Ihe persons herein named; and the said 

 ground, so selected, shall be set out by proper metes and })ounds, and a 

 description of the same shall be made, and recorded in a book to be 

 provided for that purpose, and signed by the said regents, or so many 

 of them as may be convened at the time of their said organization; 

 and such record, or a copj^ thereof, certified by the chancellor and 

 secretary of the board of regents, shall be received in evidence, in 

 all courts, of the extent and boundaries of the lands appropriated to 

 the said institution; and, upon the making of such record, such site and 

 lands shall be deemed and taken to be appropriated, by force of this 

 act, to the said institution. 



Sec. 5. And he it further enacted, That, so soon as the board of 

 regents shall have selected the said site, they shall cause to be erected 

 a suitable building, of plain and durable materials and structure, with- 

 out unnecessary ornament, and of sufficient size, and with suitable 

 rooms or halls, for the reception and arrangement, upon a liberal 

 scale, of objects of natural history, including a geological and miner- 

 alogical cabinet; also a chemical laboratory, a library, a gallery of art, 

 and the necessary lecture rooms; and the said board shall have author- 

 ity, by themselves, or by a committee of three of their members, to 

 contract for the completion of such building, upon such plan as may 

 be directed by the board of regents, and shall take sufficient security 

 for the building and finishing the same according to the said plan, and 

 in the time stipulated in such contract; and may so locate said build- 

 ing, if they shall deem it proper, as in appearance to form a wing to 

 the patent office building, and may so connect the same with the 

 present hall of said patent office building, containing the national 

 cabinet of curiosities, as to constitute the said hall, in whole or in 

 part, the deposit for the cabinet of said institution, if they deem it 

 expedient to do so: provided, said building shall be located upon said 

 patent office lot, in the manner aforesaid: Provided^ howevei^ That 

 the whole expense of the building and enclosures aforesaid shall not 

 exceed the amount of , which sum is hereby appropriated, pay- 

 able out of money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, 

 together with such sum or sums out of the annual interest accruing to 

 the institution, as may, in any year, remain unexpended, after paying 

 the current expenses of the institution. And duplicates of all such 

 contracts as may be made by the said board of regents shall be 

 deposited with the treasurer of the United States; and all claims on 

 any contract made as aforesaid shall be allowed and certified by the 

 board of regents, or the executive committee thereof, as the case may 

 be, and, being signed by the chancellor and secretary of the board, 

 shall be a sufficient voucher for settlement and payment at the treas- 

 ury of the United States. And the board of regents shall be author- 

 ized to employ such persons as they may deem necessary to superintend 



