328 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



the times for regular meetings of the board; and on application of any three of the 

 managers to the superintendent of the said Institution it shall be his duty to appoint 

 a special meeting of the board, of which he 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. And each member of the board of managers shall be paid his neces- 

 sary traveling and other actual expenses in attending meetings of the board, which 

 shall be audited and recorded by the superintendent of the Institution; but his service 

 as manager shall be gratuitous. And whenever money is required for the payment 

 of the debts or performance of the contracts of the Institution, incurred or entered 

 into in conformity with the provisions of this act, or for making the purchases and 

 executing the objects authorized by this act, the superintendent or the managers, or 

 any three thereof, may certify to the president of the board that such sum of money 

 is required; whereupon he shall submit the same to a committee of three of the man- 

 agers appointed for that purpose for examination and approval, and upon such 

 examination and approval he shall certify the same to the proper officer of the Treas- 

 ury for payment. And the said board shall make all needful rules, regulations, and 

 by-laws for the government of the Institution and the persons employed therein, and 

 shall submit to Congress at each session thereof, a report of the operations, expendi- 

 tures, and condition of the Institution. 



SEC. 3. And be itfurtlier enacted, That after the board of managers shall have met, 

 and become organized, it shall be their duty forthwith to proceed to select suitable 

 sites for such buildings as may be necessary for the Institution, and suitable ground 

 for horticultural and agricultural purposes and experiments; which ground may be 

 taken and appropriated out of that part of the public ground in the city of Washing- 

 ton called the Mall, lying west of Seventh street; and the sites and ground so selected 

 shall be set out by proper metes and bounds, and a description of the same shall be 

 made and recorded in a book to be provided for that purpose, and signed by the said 

 managers, or so many of them as may be convened at the time of their said organi- 

 zation; and such record, or a copy thereof, certified by the president of the board of 

 managers, shall be received in evidence in all courts of the extent and boundaries of 

 the lands appropriated to the said Institution; and upon the making of such record, 

 such sites and lands shall be deemed and taken to be appropriated by force of this 

 act to the said Institution. 



SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That, so soon as the board of managers shall have 

 selected the site for the buildings of the Institution, they shall cause to be erected a 

 suitable building, of plain and durable materials and structure, without unnecessary 

 ornament, and of sufficient size, and with suitable rooms, or halls, for the reception 

 and arrangement, upon a liberal scale, of objects of natural history, including a geo- 

 logical and mineralogical cabinet; also a chemical laboratory, a library, a gallery of 

 art, and the necessary lecture rooms; and the said board shall have authority, by 

 themselves, or by a committee of three of their members, to contract for the comple- 

 tion of such building, upon such plan as may be directed by the board of managers, 

 and shall take sufficient security for the building and finishing the same according 

 to the said plan, and in the time stipulated in such contract. And the board of 

 managers shall also cause the grounds selected for horticultural and agricultural pur- 

 poses to be inclosed and secured, and suitable buildings erected to preserve such 

 plants as will not bear exposure to the weather at all seasons; and so soon as it may 

 be necessary for the accommodation of the persons employed in said Institution, the 

 said board of managers may cause to be erected, on the grounds of the Institution, 

 such dwelling houses and other buildings, of plain and substantial workmanship and 

 materials, to be without unnecessary ornament, as may be wanted: Provided, however, 

 That the whole expense of the buildings and inclosures aforesaid shall not exceed 

 the amount of the interest which will have accrued on the principal sum and fund 

 on the first day of July next, to wit: $242,129; which sum is hereby appropriated, 



