1012 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



In July, 18-11, the inineraLs, books, manuscripts, and other articles 

 forming part of the Smithsonian bequest were deposited by the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, 



On the 9th of August, 1811, Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretar}^ of 

 State, transferred, with the approval of Mr, Ellsworth, the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents, the exploring expedition collections from basement 

 rooms in the building to the upper rooms, or ''Splendid Hall,'"' in 

 the second story of the Patent Office. 



On the 27th of July, 1812 (Stat., VI, 815), the National Institute was 

 incorporated T)y Congress as the successor of the National Institution. 

 Its charter expired by limitation in twenty years, with an extension 

 of three years to wind up its affairs. This act provided that all the 

 property of said corporation at the time of the expiration or dissolu- 

 tion of its charter should belong to and devolve upon the United 

 States. 



By act of August 1, 1842 (Stat., V, 501), ,'^20,000 was appropriated 

 for the transportation, arrangement, and preservation of these col- 

 lections. 



The Government collections of natural history, etc. , were placed in 

 the upper room of the Patent Office, under the care of such persons 

 as may be appointed by the Joint Committee on the Library, by act 

 of August 26, 1812 (Stat., V, 581). 



The act of Congress of August 10, 1816 (Stat., IX, 102), organizing 

 the Smithsonian Institution, provided — 



Sec. 6. And be it farther enacted, That, in proportion as suitable arrangements can 

 be made for their reception, 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 

 Washington, 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 [to] best facilitate the examination and 

 study of them, in the building so as aforesaid to be erected for the Institution; and 

 the Regents of said Institution 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 belonging to the Institution, (which they are hereby 

 authorized to make, ) or by donation, which they may receive, or otherwise, cause 

 such new specimens to be also appropriately classed and arranged. And the min- 

 erals, books, manuscripts, and other property, of James Smithson, which have been 

 received by the Government of the United States, and are now placed in the Depart- 

 ment of State, shall be removed to said Institution, and shall be preserved separate 

 and apart from other property of the Institution. 



The Regents were authorized to locate the building for the Smith- 

 sonian Institution so as "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" (sec. 5). 



