930 CONGRESSIONAL rROCEEDINGS. 



FOETY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 1883-1885. 



SMITTISONIAN BUILDING — ESTIMATES. 



December 3, 1883 — House. 



Estimates for 1885. 



For heating, gas fitting, plumbing, and furnishing the eastern por- 

 tion of the Smithsonian Institution, $15,000. 



December 1, 1884 — House. 



Estimates for 1886. 



For finishing and completing the furnishing of the eastern portion 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, $5,600. 



For urgent and necessaiy repairs to the central and western portions 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, $15,200. 

 February 9, 1885- -House. 



Smithsonian Institution, 



Was<]i'mgton^ Fd)Tuary 5, 1885. 



Sik: I beg to submit herewith some explanations in regard to the 

 two items in the estimates of appropriations connected with the build- 

 ings of the Smithsonian Institution. At the present time the entire 

 edifice, with the exception of the eastern end, is occupied exclusively 

 by the National Museum, this, including three large halls and some 

 smaller ones, aggregating about 33,000 square feet of purely exhibition 

 space, with the addition of a large number of offices and workrooms, 

 amounting to about one-third of the space existing in the National 

 Museum building. The law of Congress of 1846 directs the Regents 

 of the Institution, in proportion as suitable arrangements can be 

 made for their reception, to take charge of all objects of natural 

 history, geology, art and industry, etc., then belonging or thereafter 

 to belong to the United States. This had immediate reference to the 

 collections then in the Patent Office and which occupied the whole of 

 one of the main halls. In compliance with the urgent request of the 

 Commissioner of Patents, expressed through the House Committee on 

 Patents, the transfer was made in 1857, a large appropriation being 

 made by Congress to fit up the rooms with cases and other require- 

 ments for their reception. It is to these exhibition rooms that the 

 appropriation of $15,200 asked for has reference. 



The ceiling of one of the halls, 200 by 50 feet, has become loosened 

 and threatens to fall and crush a large number of valuable glazed cases 

 and, of course, with corresponding injury to the collections. Some of 

 the cases require remodeling, so as more satisfactorily to exhibit the 

 specimens contained in them, and a general renovation of the walls and 

 ceilings is also required. 



The floor of the lower hall, which is 200 by 50 feet, also requires 

 renewal, having been worn out after a lapse of nearly forty years. 



