THE GENESIS (W THE iVATIONaL MtlsEUM. 341 



liieut to illustrate the physical ge(>,i;i;iphy, natural history, and etliuol- 

 ogy of the Uuited States, cau uot be too highly estinuited. But the 

 support of such a collection ought uot tohe a bUrtheu upou the Smith- 

 soniau fund; 



The year 1854 was the stiniug one in the history of the Institution, 

 ttud little was done towards the transfer of the museum. The great 

 lower hall, having beeu coiUpleted^ Wrts lying idle. The Smithsonian 

 collections were rapidly iucredsing ttltder the management of Prof. 

 Baird, of whose worlc^in this^ direction uiore will be said later, and a 

 considerable number of (ioverumeut colleetions had come directly into 

 the custody of the Institution — in bulk and value more extensive than 

 those in the Patent Oftice, those of the exploring expedition excepted. 



In this year, too, the custody of the Patent Office collection was 

 transferred to the Conunissioner of Patents, and an ap]irr,priation made 

 for their support. 



In 1855, in liis report, presented March 1, 1S5G, the Secretary said: 



The lower story of the main building consists of one large hall, to be 

 appropriated to a museum or library. It is at jjresent unoccupied, but 

 will be brought into use as soon as the means are provided for furnish- 

 ing it with proi^er cases for containing the objects to which it maj" be 

 appropriated. 



In another place he expressed the hope that Congress v\"ould in due 

 time relieve the Institution from the support of the building, and ulti- 

 mately appropriate the greater part of it to a national museum.* 



This was the first time that the term National Museum was i^ublicly 

 used by Prof Henry or in the rejjorts of the Smithsonian Institutiou — 

 a significant fact, and one which shows a step in the progress of the 

 nuiseum idea aud a revival of the plan promoted by the National In 

 stitute from 1840 to 1846. 



The fact that tlie Smithsonian museum, in itself, could now claim to 

 be the best general collection of natural history so far as Xorth Amer- 

 ica was concerned probably stimulated the Secretary's enthusiasm, for 

 he announced the fact in the report with evident pride. 



In March, 185«;, the subject of the removal of the collections from the 

 Patent Office was presented to the Regents by the Secretary, but the 

 minutes contain no record of tlieir decision. 



In the Secretary's report for 185(), presented to the Regents January 

 20-28, 1857, the matter came up again tor remark, and Prof. Henry, as 

 was his custom, spoke of the obstacles to the progress of the Insti- 

 tution caused by the restriction of the charter, and recurring to the 

 nniseum, said: 



The adverse ettects of the early and consequently imperfect legislation' 

 ought, therefore, as far as possible, to be obviated; and this would 

 readily be done if Congress would relieve the Institntion from the care 

 'of a large collection of specimens i>rincipally belonging to the Govern- 

 ment, and pundiase the building to be used as a depository of all the 



*" Report 1855, p. 16. 



