TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-47. 357 



when, and on every alternate fourth Wednesday of December thereafter, a 

 new election thereof shall be made by a joint resolution of Congress ; and 

 vacancies occasioned by death, resignation, or otherwise, may be filled in 

 like manner by joint resolution of Congress. And the said managers shall 

 meet and organize, by the choice of a president, in the city of Wash- 

 ington, on the first Monday in September next after the passage of this 

 act, and they shall then fix on 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 meetiug 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 quo- 

 rum to do business. And each member of the board of managers shall 

 be paid his necessary traveling and other actual expenses in attending 

 meetings of the board, which shall be audited and recorded by the superin- 

 tendent of the institution ; but his service as manager shall be gratuitous. 

 And whenever money is required for the payment of the debts or perform- 

 ance of the contracts of the institution, incurred or entered into in con- 

 formity 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 managers appointed for that purpose for ex- 

 amination and approval; and upon such examination and approval, he 

 shall certify the same to the proper officer of the Treasury 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, 

 expenditures, and condition of the institution. 



SEC. 3. And be it further 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 institu- 

 tion, 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 Washington called the Mall, lying west 

 of Seventh street; and the sites and grounds 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 organization ; and such record, or a copy thereof, certified by the pres- 

 ident of the board of managers, shall be received in evidence in all courts 

 -nf the extent and boundaries of the lands appropriated to the said institu- 

 tion ; 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 insti- 

 tution. 



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 struct- 

 -ure, 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, 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 managers, and shall 

 taUo sufficient security to the Treasurer of the United States 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 purposes to be enclosed and se- 

 cured, 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 neces- 



