798 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



most patient aii<l fareful iiivt'stigation, aided by all the information attainable from 

 any source within their reach, as well as by the assistance and advice of the most 

 experienced and competent scientists with who;n they liave been able to confer. 



The defects in the structure of the Ilall of Representatives in respect to heat, light, 

 ventilation, and acoustics have been the subject of grave and serious complaint ever 

 since its completion, and the difficulties in overcoming them have never yet been 

 solved in a manner entirely satisfactory to those who have undertaken it with any- 

 thing of a correct apprehensi(jn of the character and magnitude of the task. Many 

 efforts have been made in the past fifteen years to accomplish this result, and at a 

 considerable cost; and while those who have conducted some of them were of the 

 opinion that no improvements in the particulars mentioned were either necessary or 

 practical, and whilfe others of them believed that they had succeeded in effecting all 

 that was desired, your committee have concluded that both classes were mistaken 

 and that the most I'adical changes and improvements are urgently demanded for the 

 comfort and health of Members, and that but few, if any, have been made since the 

 original completion of the Hall until within a very recent period. 



The committee do not believe that the Hall with its present architectural structure 

 can ever be ventilated so as to be entirely healthy or free from many objections and 

 inconveniences, but they are of opinion that it may be so greatly improved that the 

 health of those who occupy it will not be subjected to any serious danger. The same, 

 too, is true, but iu a less degree, as to light and its acoustic capacity, though they 

 think that these latter may be so remedied that little inconvenience will result from 

 them in the future. 



The committee referred to a report May -i, 1876 (No. 380), of a sub- 

 committee from tlie Committee on Public Building.s and Grounds during 

 the second session of the Forty-fourth Congress. 



In this report it is stated that after having carefully examined a 

 great number of plans and propositions sid)mitted to them upon the 

 sul)ject they referred '"the entire matter to a board composed of 

 scientific Government officers, viz: Prof. Joseph Henry, of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution; Lieut. Col. Thomas L. Casey, of the Army Engi- 

 neer Corps; Prof. J. S. Billings, of the Medical Department, U. S. A.; 

 ,Mr. F. Schiuuann, Assistant Supervising Architect of the Treasury 

 Department, and Mr. Edward Clark, Architect of the Capitol, to 

 advise the sul)committee of the most practical and economical method of 

 attaining the object in view.'' 



This board, of which Prof. Joseph Henry was president, made reports 

 April 30, 1876, and Januar}^ 26, 1878.^ 



Mr. Young fiu-lher reported that the recommendations made by the 

 board were only partially carried out and that his conunittee after the 

 death of Professor Henry, in May, 1878, had appointed Prof. Spencer 

 F. Baird. his successor as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to 

 succeed him as chairman of the l)oard. 



On motion of Mr. Young resolutions were adopted '"that Abram S. 

 Hewitt; Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution; Lieut. 

 Col. Thomas L. Casey, U. S. A.; Mr. Edward Clark, Architect of the 

 Capitol; Mr. F. Schumann, civil engineer. Treasury Department; and 



^ See Congressional Record, February 28, 1879, p. 30. 



