REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND CONDITION OF 
THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE 
YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1908. 
3y RIcHARD RATHBUN, 
Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in charge of the U. S. National Museum, 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
INCEPTION AND HISTORY. 
The inception and history of the National Museum have often been 
discussed in the opening pages of the annual report. Congress, in 
the act of August 10, 1846, founding the Smithsonian Institution, 
recognized that an opportunity was afforded, in carrying out the 
large-minded design of Smithson, to provide for the custody of the 
museum of the nation. To this new establishment was therefore 
intrusted the care of the national collections, a course that time has 
fully justified. 
In the beginning the cost of maintaining the museum side of the 
Institution’s work was wholly paid from the Smithsonian income; 
then for a number of years the Government bore a share, and during 
the past three decades Congress has voted sufficient funds to cover the 
expenses of the Museum, thus furthering one of the primary means 
“for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men” without 
encroaching upon the resources of the Institution. 
The museum idea was inherent in the establishment of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, which in its turn was based upon a ten years’ dis- 
cussion in Congress and the advice of the most distinguished scientific 
men, educators, and intellectual leaders of the nation of seventy 
years ago. It is interesting to note how broad and comprehensive 
were the views which actuated our lawmakers in determining the 
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