236 CONGRESSIONAL PBOOEEDINO8. 



a secretary and a treasurer, to hold their offices during the pleasure of the board, and 

 removable at their pleasure, and others to be appointed in their places, and to fix 

 from time to time their compensation. And the secretary and treasurer only shall 

 receive pecuniary compensation for their services, and those of the members of the 

 board of trustees shall be gratuitous. And the offices of secretary and treasurer may, 

 at the discretion of the board of trustees, be held by the same person. The secre- 

 tary and treasurer shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of the duties of their 

 respective offices; and the treasurer shall give bond, with the penalty of $50,000, 

 with sureties to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury, for the safe custody 

 and faithful application of all the funds of the institution which may come to his 

 hands or be at his disposal. 



SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the sum of $508,318.46, placed in the Treasury 

 of the United States on the first day of September, 1838, as the proceeds, in part, of 

 the bequest of James Smithson to the United States, together with all sums which 

 have been or may hereafter be realized from the said bequest, shall be passed here- 

 after to the credit of a fund, to be denominated the Smithsonian fund, in the Treasury 

 of the United States. And the faith of the United States is hereby pledged for the 

 preservation of the said fund undiminished and unimpaired, to bear interest at the 

 rate of six per cent a year, payable half-yearly, on the first days of January and 

 July, to the treasurer of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian fund, to be applied 

 to the purposes of the fund, conformably to the laws, and subject to the revision and 

 regulations of the board of trustees. 



SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no part of the said Smithsonian fund, princi- 

 pal or interest, shall be applied to any school, college, university, other institute of 

 education, or ecclesiastical establishment. 



SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the appropriations to be made from time to 

 time by Congress, to the purposes of the Smithsonian Institution, as declared by the 

 testator, shall be exclusively from the accruing interest, and not from the principal, 

 of the said fund; but Congress shall retain the power of investing, at their discretion, 

 the principal of said fund and its increase in any other manner, so as to secure not 

 less than a yearly interest of six per cent, and may appropriate, from any other 

 unappropriated moneys in the Treasury, sums to an amount not exceeding six years 

 of the accruing interest on the Smithsonian fund, to be repaid from the said accruing 

 interest into the Treasury. 



SEC. 6. And be il further enacted, That the sum of $30,000, part of the accruing 

 interest on the same Smithsonian fund, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated 

 towards the erection and establishment, at the city of Washington, of an astro- 

 nomical observatory, adapted to the most effective and continual observations of the 

 phenomena of the heavens; to be provided with the necessary, best, and most perfect 

 instruments and books, for the periodical publication of the said observations, and for 

 the annual composition and publication of a nautical almanac. 



SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the said observatory shall be erected under 

 the direction of the board of trustees on a site in the city of Washington to be selected 

 by them; and should the same be on land belonging to the United States so mueh 

 thereof as in the opinion of the trustees shall be necessary for the purpose shall be 

 conveyed to them in consideration of the sum of $10,000 taken from that fund by 

 the general appropriation act of March 3, 1839: Provided, That if no such suitable site 

 can be found on the public lands, that then a selection of a site on private property 

 may be made at a price not exceeding one-half cent per square foot, to be paid out of 

 the appropriation in the immediately preceding section of this act. 



SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That all expenditures made by the said board of 

 trustees shall be subject to the approval of the President of the United States; and all 

 the accounts thereof shall be reported to the Secretary of the Treasury and audited 



