FORTIETH CONGRESS, 1867-69. 719 



of Washington or that might hereafter become the property 

 of the Government by exchange or otherwise. 



Though the majority of the Board of Regents did not 

 consider the expenditure of a large amount of the income 

 on this subject in accordance with the will of Smithson, 

 they could 'not refuse to obey the injunction of Congress, 

 and proceeded to erect an extended building an dj;o take charge 

 of the museum of the Government. The cost of this building, 

 which at first was $325,000, has been increased by the repa- 

 ration of damages caused by the fire to $450,000, the whole 

 of which has been defrayed from the annual income. Not- 

 withstanding this burden the institution has achieved a 

 reputation as wide as the civilized world, has advanced 

 almost every branch of knowledge, and presented books 

 and specimens to hundreds of institutions and societies in 

 this country and abroad. 



It is not a mere statical establishment, as many may 

 suppose, supporting a corps of individuals whose only duty 

 is the exhibition of the articles of the show museum ^ but 

 a living, active organization that has by its publications, 

 researches, explorations, distribution of specimens and 

 exchanges, vindicated the intelligence and good faith of the 

 Government in administering a fund intended for the good 

 of the whole community of civilized men. It has 'at ^ the 

 same time collected a library, principally of the transactions 

 and proceedings of learned societies, the most perfect one 

 of the kind in the world, consisting of fifty thousand works; 

 also a collection of engravings illustrative of the progress 

 and early history of the arts, both of which it has trans- 

 ferred to the Library of Congress. It is not alone the pres- 

 ent value of the books which it has placed in the possession 

 of the Government, but also that of the perpetual continu- 

 ation of the several series contained therein. 



The institution has continued to render important service 

 to the Government from its first organization until the 

 present time by examining and reporting on scientific ques- 

 tions pertaining to the operations of the different depart- 

 ments, and in this way, particularly during the _ war, it is 

 not too much to say that it has saved the United States 

 many millions of dollars. 



Let me say one word more before leaving this subject. 

 As I have shown, the real purpose of the donation of 

 Smithson which the Board of Regents have tried to pro- 

 mote as well as they could was to extend and circulate 

 means of scientific information ; and the management of 



