PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 105 
shall be used for the purposes only for which said Smithsonian Institute was 
created, said Lucy T. and George W. Poore fund to be kept separate from all 
other funds, and the income from the same not to be used until the principal, 
by accumulation of the income to be added to the principal from year to year, 
shall have reached the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I make 
this gift not so much because of its amount as because I hope it will prove an 
example for other Americans to follow, by supporting and encouraging so wise 
and beneficent an institution as I believe the Smithsonian Institute to be, and 
yet it has been neglected and overlooked by American citizens. 
The secretary said: “At my request the Institution’s interests in 
the matter are being looked after by Mr. Choate, of the Board of 
Regents, who has assured me that he will be glad to act as agent or 
attorney for the Institution without charge.” 
The Paul J. Rainey expedition to Africa—The secretary said 
that Mr. Paul J. Rainey, of New York City, recently called at the 
Institution and stated that it was his intention to make a hunting 
and collecting trip in Africa, and asked if a man could be sent with 
him to prepare the specimens which he wished to present to the 
Institution. The route of travel was to be north of that of the recent 
Smithsonian expedition, through the country lying between the 
northern portion of British East Africa and the southern part of 
Abyssinia. Mr. Rainey agreed to bear all expenses in connection 
with the trip. 
It was thought desirable to accept this offer, as it was hoped to 
add new material to the present collections; and Mr. Edmund 
Heller, who was one of the field naturalists on the Smithsonian 
expedition, and who was now engaged in working up that collection, 
had been authorized to suspend work upon it temporarily, and de- 
tailed to accompany Mr. Rainey. He expected to sail on February 
18, and to be absent about eight months. 
Portrait of Washington.—The secretary called attention to a por- 
trait of Gen. Washington, which was hanging in the room in which 
the board was then meeting. 
This portrait was part of the Lewis collection of Washington 
relics purchased by the Government in 1878 and stored for a time 
at the Patent Office. When the collection was transmitted to the 
National Museum in 1883, the Commissioner of Patents retained 
this picture, and it is only recently that the matter came up, with 
the result that the portrait was sent to the Institution by the Secre- 
tary of the Interior, Mr. Ballinger. 
The picture has been attributed to Gilbert Stuart, but a careful 
investigation fails to reveal anything to substantiate the claim, and 
it is now recorded as having been painted by an unknown artist. 
By some it is regarded as a copy of an original painting. Mrs. Lewis 
had said that there was a tradition in the family that this was con- 
sidered the best likeness of Washington ever painted. 
