JOSEPH HENRY 137 



ing the Board of Regents which was referred to a select committee 

 of five, appointed to inquire and report to the House whether the 

 Smithsonian Institution had been managed and its funds ex- 

 pended in accordance with law, and whether any additional legis- 

 lation was necessary. After a careful examination, extending 

 through a period of six weeks, the committee seems to have been 

 unable to agree upon a report. Two reports were, in fact, made. 

 One, signed by Mr. Upham, the chairman, took ground against 

 the power of removal by the Secretary of the Institution, and 

 against the restriction of the increase of the library as contemplated. 

 Another very elaborate report, signed by two members, sustained 

 the Secretary and the majority of the Board. The remaining two 

 members of the committee signed neither report; nor did either 

 report propose any action on the part of Congress except the pay- 

 ment of the clerk of the committee. The contest which had been 

 going on for a period of seventeen years thus ended in a complete 

 vindication of Professor Henry and the position he had assumed. 

 During the remainder of his life he had the great satisfaction of 

 feeling that he was held in constantly increasing esteem both by 

 the Regents and the public. 



In January, 1865, an event occurred which though an almost 

 irreparable calamity, tended materially toward the appropriation 

 of the Smithsonian fund income toward those objects which the 

 Secretary thought most proper. A considerable portion of the 

 upper story of the main building, and a part of the lower story 

 were burned. The incipient art gallery, the chemical laboratory, 

 and the lecture-room were all involved in the destruction. Happily 

 the library and the museum remained nearly intact. An oppor- 

 tunity thus offered itself to have some of the trusts imposed upon 

 the fund undertaken by other agencies. The Library of Congress 

 was rapidly growing into a great national institution, so that there 

 was no longer any sound reason for collecting a separate Smith- 

 sonian library. An act was, therefore, passed by Congress provid- 

 ing for the deposit of the Smithsonian books in the Library of 

 Congress, so that all could be consulted together, and the Institu- 

 tion at the same time be relieved from their care. The necessity 



