TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 1843-1845. 273 



occasionally required. That a like fund of $120,000 shall be reserved, 

 yielding a yearly interest of $7,200, for a compensation of $1,500 a 

 year for each of four assistant observers, and of two laborers with the 

 wages for each of $600 a year. That a fund of $20,000 should supply 

 a yearly interest for the purchase of new publications on subjects 

 connected with science; and another fund, from the interest of which 

 may be defrayed the compensation of the secretaiy and treasurer o 

 the corporation, and the charge of publication of a nautical almanac 

 and of the observations made by the observators. There remains, 

 then, a sum of $70,000 to be expended for the erection of the observa- 

 tory, and of the necessary buildings connected therewith, and for the 

 purchase of instruments and books necessary and suitable for the 

 establishment, which may be thus formed and completed by the close 

 of the year 1846. 



For refunding to the Treasury the whole sum thus appropriated, 

 principal and interest, the only requisite will be the sense of justice 

 of the governments of the States of Arkansas, Illinois, and Michigan, 

 of which, as the committee have observed, they can not entertain a 

 doubt. 



The committee respectfully report, with slight modifications adapted 

 to the present circumstances, the same bill reported by a committee 

 of this House at the second session of the Twenty -seventh Congress, 

 on the 12th of April, 1842. 



And, finally, the committee refer the House, for a full exposition of 

 the facts and principles upon which the bill now reported is predi- 

 cated, to the following previous reports of committees of this House 

 on the subject of the Smithsonian bequest: 



Report No. 181, of January 19, 1836, Twenty-fourth Congress, first 

 session, with accompanying documents. 



Report No. 277, of March 5, 1840, Twenty-sixth Congress, first ses- 

 sion, with amendatory bill H. 1. 



Report No. 587, of April 12, 1842, Twenty-seventh Congress, sec- 

 ond session, with bill H. 386. 



All of which this committee request may be taken as part of their 

 report. 



[H. 418.] 



A bill to provide for the disposal and management of the fund bequeathed by James Smithson to 

 the United States, for the establishment of an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 

 edge among men. 



SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the President of the Senate and the Speaker of 

 the House of Representatives of the United States, the Chief Justice of the United 

 States, the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, and Navy, the Postmaster and 

 Attorney Generals, the chief justice of the circuit court of the United States for the 

 District of Columbia, and the mayor of the city of Washington, shall be, and hereby 

 are, constituted a body politic and corporate, by the style and title of "The trustees of 

 the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," 



H. Doc. 732 18 



