Foimding of the Institittion 



43 



tage of uniting the Smithsonian Institution with it, etc., and 

 appealed to Congress and to the Hberal citizens of the United 

 States to come forward in aid of a glorious cause and in the 

 accomplishment of the great national objects which the Insti- 

 tution has in view," ^ etc. 



Senator Preston's bill for the union of the two establish- 

 ments came to naught.^ 



During this session, however, the act to incorporate the 

 National Institute, as it was henceforth to be called, passed 

 in a much modified form, and was approved July 27, 1842,^ 

 and the society now seems to have felt much more secure in 

 its project of retaining control of the National Museum, and 

 of gaining eventually the management of the Smithson fund, 

 or, at least, of obtaining an appropriation from Congress. 



Senator Woodbury,* of New Hampshire, in commenting 

 upon the form of the charter, remarked that " care was taken 

 originally to make the Institute different from all other char- 

 tered bodies, even in this District, so as to elevate it above 

 every motive of personal gain, dedicating its labors exclu- 

 sively to objects of a public character and vesting all the pro- 

 perty possessed for this purpose in the government itself; 

 and thus, by rendering it national in substance as well as 

 name, to obviate any constitutional objection which might 

 arise agfainst measures in its behalf." 



The chanofe of the name from " Institution" to " Institute" 

 was made in deference to a suggestion by Doctor Peter S. 



"^Proceedings of the National Institution, 

 page 236. A copy was requested for publica- 

 tion (/(?<:. cit., page 241), but I cannot learn 

 that it was ever put in type. 



2 It was laid upon the table July 18, 1842, 

 and never again came up. 



3 See " Charter of Incorporation, Constitu- 

 tion and By-Laws " in Proceedings of the Na- 

 tional Institution, pages 3S8-392. See also 

 "Bill to Incorporate the National Institution," 

 etc., reported by Senator Preston (Senate Bill 



No. 258), February 17, 1841, in Rhees,"Doc- 

 uments," etc., pages 239-341. See also "Me- 

 morial of the Officers of the National Institu- 

 tion for the Promotion of Science, January 21, 

 1842" (House Documents No. 59, Twenty- 

 Seventh Congress, Second Session, II.), sub- 

 milting draft of a bill of incorporation. 



4 For a thorough understanding of the mat- 

 ter see the remarks of Senator Woodbury in 

 full, which were printed in the Proceedings of 

 the National Institution, pages 336, 337. 



