TWENTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, 1839-1841. 217 



February 17, 1841 Senate. 



Mr. W. C. PRESTON, from the Committee on the Library, to whom 

 was referred the bill (S. 245) to appoint trustees for the investment of 

 the Smithsonian fund, reported it without amendment, and also the 

 following bills as substitutes therefor: 



S. 258. Bill to incorporate within the District of Columbia the 

 National Institution for the promotion of science. 



S. 259. Bill to invest the proceeds of the Smithsonian fund, and to 

 establish the Smithsonian Institution; which were severally read and 

 passed to the second reading. 



[S. 258.] 



A bill to incorporate, within the District of Columbia, the National Institution for the Promotion 

 of Science. 



Be it enacted, etc., That Joel R. Poinsett, James K. Paulding, John Quincy Adams, 

 John J. Abert, Joseph G. Totten, A. O. Dayton, Francis Marcoe, Levi Woodbury, 

 William Cranch, Henry D. Gilpin, William J. Stone, and others, composing the 

 association in the District of Columbia denominated the National Institution for the 

 Promotion of Science, and their successors duly elected in the manner hereinafter 

 mentioned, be, and they are hereby, constituted and declared to be a body politic 

 and corporate, by the name and title of the National Institution for the Promotion of 

 Science, in the District of Columbia, with all rights and privileges of corporate 

 bodies, not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or the laws of the 

 District of Columbia, and in conformity with the following rules and regulations: 



Article first. This society shall be named "The National Institution for the Pro- 

 motion of Science." 



Article second. It shall hold its meetings at the city of Washington. 



Article third. It shall be composed of resident, corresponding, and honorary 

 members. 



Article fourth. The resident members shall be persons residing in the District of 

 Columbia; corresponding members shall be persons residing out of the District of 

 Columbia who wish to aid the institution by their contributions or communications, 

 and the class of honorary members shall be composed of eminent men residing out 

 of the District of Columbia. 



Article fifth. Resident members removing from the District of Columbia shall, on 

 request, be transferred to the list of corresponding members, and vice versa; but any 

 corresponding member may, at his option, be recorded and considered a resident 

 member. 



Article sixth. The officers of the institution shall consist of a president, vice- 

 president, twelve directors, a treasurer, and a corresponding and a recording secretary; 

 Provided, That no member shall hold more than one of the offices created by this 

 article at the same time, but that an acceptance of one shall be construed as refusal 

 of all others. 



Article seventh. The officers shall constitute a board of management of the fiscal 

 concerns of the institution; and any five members of the board shall be a quorum for 

 the transaction of ordinary business. 



Article eighth. The secretaries of the departments of State, Treasury, War, and 

 Navy, and the Attorney-General and Postmaster-General of the United States, for 

 the time being, shall, with their consent, be directors of the institution; but, upon the 

 refusal of one or more of them to accede to the request of the institution, such director 

 or directors shall be chosen in the same manner as herein provided for the appoint- 

 ment of other officers. The officers shall be elected for the term of one year, or until 



