THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1849-1851. 477 



the supposition ]\v the Senator from Wisconsin of a personal or offen- 

 sive application of what I said, I have nothing more to say on that 

 point. 



The object of the Senator, as directed to the benefit of the inventors 

 of the country b}^ providing a proper room for the exhibition of the 

 models of their inventions, is one in which I ver}^ cordially sympa- 

 thize. The Committee on Public Buildings have already that subject 

 somewhat under consideration. I know quite well that the models in 

 the Patent Office are in such a confused condition as not to comply 

 with the terms of the law. The great gallery intended for the exhibi- 

 tion of models is now occupied by the museum which has been referred 

 to. The present building, however, was built by money drawn from 

 the United States Treasury, and may be occupied for that purpose. 

 The wing which is being added and built out of the patent fund is 

 clearly a building which should be for the use of the Patent Office, 

 and I hope it will not be transferred to any other use. I sympathize 

 with the object of the Senator in giving proper accommodations to the 

 models in the Patent Office, and reserving for the use of that office the 

 building which is being erected out of the patent fund. So far we go 

 together. 



1 take it for granted, from the object of the Smithsonian Institution 

 and from the plan on which its operations have been commenced and 

 will be conducted, that it will never want such a museum as that in the 

 Patent Office; still less will it want the garden of plants which has been 

 collected by the exploring expedition. I suppose it would cost the 

 Institution not less than $10,000 a year to support such an establish- 

 ment; and if it were transferred, Congress, I think, would be bound 

 to endow the Institution with $10,000 a year additional. I think it is 

 quite appropriate to keep these natural curiosities in the Patent Office. 

 They may aid inventive genius. Vegetable growth and animal action 

 are elements upon which mechanical invention rests. There would 

 therefore seem to be something appropriate in lodging them in the 

 Patent Office. If they are not to be kept there, let the Government 

 provide a room elsewhere, get rid of them, destroy them, or give them 

 to somebody that will take them. But let not the Government coerce 

 a fund, of which it was the chosen trustee, which was granted bv a 

 foreigner for a special purpose, with the charge of keeping this col- 

 lection. 



Mr. George E. Badger. I move to lay the resolution on the table. 



The motion was agreed to; and the resolution was ordered to lie on 

 the table. 



REPORT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



July 23, 1850— House. 



Mr. H. W. Hllliard requested the gentleman from Pennsylvania 

 [Mr. James Thompson] to waive his motion for the regular order of 



