THE GENESIS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 319 



Letter from the Comniissioner of Patents to the Secretary of War, Decem- 



ber 7, 1843. 



Patent Office, 

 Washington, December 7th, 1843. 



Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from the 

 Secretary of War of the 2d inst., commnnicating the inforuiation that 

 my letter to his Department of Ist inst. had been referred to a commit- 

 tee of the ISTational Institute for answer. 



Permit me to enclose a copy of the correspondence with said commit- 

 tee. I have ventured to say in my reply that I did not believe their 

 letter to myself had met your approval. 



The Hon. Sect, will imagine my surprise at the letter of the committee 

 when he is informed that the Commissioner of Patents has the custody 

 of the Patent Oftice building; that he holds a special appointment un- 

 der the Joint Committee of the Library to take charge of all the property 

 of Government mentioned in the act of August 26, 1842, and more 

 especially as the National Institute has omitted to ap|)oint a curator to 

 protect the other articles received from the War and Navy Departments, 

 or even their own efiects in this building since July last, and hence the 

 care has devolved upon myself as an act of courtesy if not of duty. 



Under these circumstances, and having interested myself in the exhi- 

 bition of the copper rock at the seat of Government, I offered to take 

 charge of it, under the direction of the Secretary of War, if he desired it. 



The disappointment expressed by many members of Congress at not 

 hnding this beautiful specimen in the National Gallery prompted me, 

 at the date of my letter, to make, as I hoped, a resi)ectful offer to the 

 Hon. Secretary of my services. Nor would I have replied to the com- 

 mittee had I not supposed that silence might seem to admit that I had 

 been guilty of great presumption. 



Let me add that I am a member of the Institute and cherish its wel- 

 fare. 



I remain, with highest respect, your's, obediently, 



H. L. Ellsworth. 



Hon. J. M. Porter, 



Secy, of War. 



Letter from Col. Abert to the Commissioner of Pntoits, December 5, 1843. 



Washington, Dec. 5, 1843. 



Sir: The honorable Secretary of War has referred to the committee 

 of the National Institute your letter of the 1st inst. 



Being uuniformed by any law or regulation of the existence of a 

 "National Gallery" or of any other collection under your care than the 

 models of the Patent Office, you will pardon me if I do not fully ap- 

 preciate the views or reasoning of your letter. 



At one period, by order of the l^Lxecutive, the upper room of the Pat- 

 ent Office was made the place of deposit for the eft'ects of the " Na- 

 tional Institute," a society known to our laws and regularly chartered 

 by Congress. This room thus became the hall of the Institute. In 

 this room the Institute had deposited the collections from the exx)lor- 

 ing squadron, and those from all other sources which w^ere placed un- 

 der its care by order of the Executive. Put from a su^iposed necessity. 

 Congress vested the care of the deposit from the exploring squadron 



