THE GENESIS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 281 



It has already been suggested that tlie I^ational Institution owed its 

 origin to tlie intluence of the Smitlison bequest. Indeed it may not be 

 altogether im])()ssible that it was founded with speeial reference to some 

 l>lan looking toward securing the control of this bequest. 



Although less than fifty years have gone by, \ can not learn that any 

 of those who were active nieinl)ers at the finite of its organization are 

 still living, and unfortunately no one seems to have left any written 

 record of the secret history of this very significant movement. 



It seems possible, however, to read between the lines, in the official 

 ](ublications of the society, and the utterances of its friends, and thereby 

 to acquire a certain additional insight into their meaning. 



With this in mind, it is instructive to review briefly the history of the 

 discussions which preceded the final organization of the Smithsonian 

 Institution — not with reference to its entire i)olicy, for this has already 

 been well done by others, but in connection with its relations to the 

 national institution, and the custodianship of the National Museum. 



In 1835, as we have seen, the fact was first made known that Smith- 

 son, who had died in Genoa, six years earlier, had bequeathed the re- 

 version of his whole estate to the United States of America "to found 

 at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an estab- 

 lishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." 



The bequest was conununicated to Congress by the President on the 

 17th of December, and was a(;cepted by Congress by an act approved 

 July 1, 1836, pledging "the faith of the United States" to the due ap- 

 l)lication of the fund to the purposes of the bequevSt. 



On the first of September, 1838, the pi'oceeds of the estate, amounting 

 to $508,318.46, was xjaid into the United States mint, and shortly after 

 the convening of Congress in that year, in a message dated December 

 6, Presich^it Van Buren informed both Houses that the amount received 

 having been invested, he deemed it inoper to invite the attention of 

 Congress to the obligation devolving upon the United States to fulfill 

 the object of the becpiest. 



Eight sessions of Congress ])assed by before any definite plan of 

 organization was decided uprm, and suggestions from all parts of the 

 country were liberally forthcoming. Strange to say nearly every sug- 

 gestion, no matter how humble its source, seems to have had its weight 

 in the deliberations, and almost every one was embodied in one or more 

 of the provisions of the numerous bills brought up for the consideration 

 of Congress. 



In 1836, when this matter first came to the notice of the Senate, it 

 seems to have been the generally accepted opinion of those who took 



the fact of the existence of such a bequest. The legacy was brought to New York in 

 August, 1838, but no definite action was taken concerning its application until eight 

 years later, when on August 10, 1840. the act of Congress establishing the Smithsonian 

 Institution was passed. The Regents beUl their first meeting September 7, 1846, and 

 elected a secretary, who accepted the trust on December 14, and entered upon his 

 duties a week later. 



