FORTY-FIFTH CONGEESS, 1877-1879. 771 



Northwestern Boundary Survey, in charge of Mr. Archibald Camp- 

 bell, under the State Department; and, after another interval of a few 

 years, by the results of the geological and other surveys by Professor 

 Hayden, Lieutenant Wheeler, Major Powell, and others. 



The number of important explorations, yielding results of decided 

 magnitude, for the most part carried on under Government auspices, 

 or more or less at the expense of the Smithsonian fund to the end of 

 1877, or thirty-one years from the organization of the National Museum, 

 amounts to about 250, while other contributions from private sources 

 have constituted an enormous aggregate during the same period. 



Up to the beginning of the year 1875 no appropriations were made 

 by Congress for the purchase of specimens of any kind whatever, the 

 expenditures being for salaries, cases, materials, transportation, etc., 

 the collections of the various Government expeditions, the contribu- 

 tions of correspondents, and the exchanges with museums at home and 

 abroad constituting the sole mode of increase. The National Museum 

 of the United States is believed to be the only one in the world which 

 has grown from so small a beginning to such magnitude without the 

 disbursement of large sums of money in the purchase of collections. 



The occasion of, the. International Exhibition, intended to celebrate 

 at Philadelphia the one-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of 

 the United States, was chosen by authority of Congress, and with funds 

 provided for the purpose, to present an epitome of the powers and 

 resources of the United States in peace and war, the various Executive 

 Departments being called upon to do their part to carry out this object. 

 The Smithsonian Institution, as having charge of the National Museum, 

 undertook the labor of showing the economical value of the mineral 

 and animal products of the country, and the United States Fish Com- 

 mission to prepare whatever might illustrate the important subject of 

 the national fisheries. The Agricultural Department prepared to com- 

 plete the illustration of the natural resources of the United States so 

 far as the vegetable kingdom and its products were concerned. In 

 connection with the Indian Bureau of the Interior Department, the 

 Smithsonian Institution also made arrangements to display the condi- 

 tion of the aboriginal tribes of the United States in both prehistoric 

 and modern times. 



Although, as the result of the various agencies already referred to, 

 the National Museum contained a large amount of appropriate material 

 before commencing operations for the purpose in question, there were 

 yet many gaps that were required to be filled up before the United 

 States could be worthily represented at Philadelphia, and the necessary 

 appropriations for the purpose were made by Congress. The entire 

 amount assigned to the service of the Smithsonian Institution in two 

 successive appropriations was $100,000. The United States Fish Com- 



