TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 1843-1845. 279 



shall give notice by letter to each of the members, and at any meeting of the board 

 of managers five shall constitute a quorum to do business; that each member of the 

 board of managers shall be paid his necessary traveling and other expenses in attend- 

 ing meetings of the board, which shall be audited, allowed, and recorded by the 

 superintendent of the institution. And whenever any person employed by the 

 authority of the institution shall have performed service entitling him to compen- 

 sation, whether the same shall be by way of salary payable semiannually or wages 

 for labor, or whenever money is due from said institution for any purpose whatever, 

 the superintendent shall certify to the president of the board that such compensation 

 or money is due, whereupon the president shall certify the same to the proper officer 

 of the Treasury Department for payment. 



SKI. 7. And be it further enacted, That the board of managers may appoint some 

 suitable person as professor of natural history, a professor of chemistry, a professor 

 of geology, and a professor of astronomy, with such other professors as the wants of 

 science may require. They shall also employ able men to lecture in the institution 

 upon the arts and sciences, and shall fix the compensation of such professors and 

 lecturers: Provided, That no professorship shall be established or lecturer employed 

 to treat or lecture on law, physic, or divinity, it being the object of the institution 

 to furnish facilities for the acquisition of such branches of knowledge as are not 

 aught in the various universities. 



SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the board of managers shall make all needful 

 rules, regulations, and by-laws for the government of the Institution and the persons 

 employed therein; and, in prescribing the duties of the professors and lecturers, they 

 shall have special reference to the introduction and illustration of subjects connected 

 with the productive and liberal arts of life, improvements in agriculture, in manu- 

 factures, in trades, and in domestic economy. They shall direct experiments to be 

 made by the professor of agriculture, horticulture, and rural economy to determine 

 the utility and advantage of new modes and instruments of culture, to determine 

 whether new fruits, plants, and vegetables may be cultivated to advantage in the 

 United States; and they shall direct the distribution of all such fruits, plants, seeds, 

 and vegetables as shall be found useful and adapted to any of our soils and climates, 

 so that the people in every part of the Union may enjoy the benefit and advantage 

 of the experiments made by the institution. They shall also direct the professor of 

 chemistry to institute a chemical analysis of soils from different sections of the United 

 States, to make experiments on the various modes of improving and enriching the 

 several kinds of soil found within the United States, and at all times to include in 

 his course of lectures the subject of agricultural chemistry. They shall also direct 

 the professor of natural history especially to refer in his course of lectures to the 

 history and habits of such animals as are useful, or such animals and insects as are 

 njurious, including the best means of taking care of and improving the one and of 

 protecting grain and other products from the other. They shall also direct the pro- 

 fessor of geology to include in his course of lectures practical instructions of a gen- 

 eral character to aid in the exploration and working of mines. They shall also 

 direct the professor of architecture and domestic science to include in his course of 

 lectures practical instructions as to the best modes and materials for building, accord- 

 ing to climate and location, throughout the United States, from the simple dwelling 

 to the more complicated and costly structures for public and other purposes; also, to 

 institute experiments in regard to the best mode of lighting, heating, and ventilating 

 buildings, public and private, and to determine the value of such scientific improve- 

 ments as may, from time to time, be made in the same or in any other important 

 branch of domestic economy. They shall also direct the professor of astronomy 

 to include in his lectures a course on navigation, including the use of nautical 

 instruments. And it shall be competent for the said managers, at their discretion, to 

 cause to be printed and published, from time to time, works, in popular form, on the 



