426 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



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 geological 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 completion of such building, upon such plan as 

 may be directed by the Board of Regents, 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 may so locate said building, if they shall deem it proper, as in 

 appearance to form a wing to the Patent Office building, and may so connect the same 

 with the present hall of said Patent Office building containing the national cabinet 

 of curiosities, as to constitute the said hall, in whole or in part, the deposit for the 

 cabinet of said Institution, if they deem it expedient to do so; provided said building 

 shall be located upon said Patent Office lot in the manner aforesaid: Provided, however, 

 That the whole expense of building and enclosures aforesaid shall not exceed the 

 amount of ; which sum is hereby appropriated, payable out of money in the 

 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, together with such sum or sums out of the 

 annual interest accruing to the Institution as may in any year remain unexpended 

 after p'aying the current expenses of the Institution. And duplicates of all such con- 

 tracts as may be made by the said Board of Regents shall be deposited with the 

 Treasurer of the United States; and all claims on any contract made as aforesaid 

 shall be allowed and certified by the Board of Regents, or the Executive Committee 

 thereof, as the case may be, and being signed by the Chancellor and Secretary of the 

 Board shall be a sufficient voucher for settlement and payment at the Treasury of the 

 United States. And the Board of Regents shall be authorized to employ such persons 

 as they may deem necessary to superintend the erection of the buildings and fitting 

 up the rooms of the Institution. And all laws for the protection of public property 

 in the city of Washington shall apply to, and be in force for, the protection of the 

 lands, buildings, and other property of said Institution. And all moneys recovered 

 by or accruing to the Institution shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States 

 to the credit of the Smithsonian bequest, and separately accounted for, as provided 

 in the act approved July first, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, accepting the bequest. 



SEC. 6. And be it further enacted. That, in proportion as suitable arrangements can 

 be made for their reception, all objects of art and of foreign and curious research, 

 and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens 

 belonging, or hereafter to belong, to the United States, which may be in the city of 

 Washington, in whosesoever custody the same may be, shall be delivered to such 

 persons as may be authorized by the Board of Regents to receive them, and shall be 

 arranged in such order, and so classed, as best to facilitate the examination and 

 study of them, in the building so as aforesaid to be erected for the Institution; and 

 the Regents of said Institution shall afterwards, as new specimens in natural history, 

 geology, or mineralogy, may be obtained for the museum of the Institution by 

 exchanges of duplicate specimens belonging to the Institution (which they are 

 hereby authorized to make), or by donation, which they may receive, or otherwise, 

 cause such new specimens to be also appropriately classed and arranged. And the 

 minerals, books, manuscripts, and other property of James Smithson, which have 

 been received by the Government of the United States, and are now placed in the 

 Department of State, shall be removed to said Institution, and shall be preserved 

 separate and apart from the other property of the Institution. 



SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Board of Regents shall 

 take charge of the building and property of said Institution, and shall, under their 

 direction, make a fair and accurate record of all their proceedings, to be preserved 

 in said Institution; and the said Secretary shall also discharge the duties of librarian 

 and of keeper of the museum, and may, with the consent of the Board of Regents, 



