The United States National Museum 305 



Smithson's cabinet of minerals, which was delivered, with 

 the remainder of the Smithson estate, into the hands of 

 Richard Rush, the agent of the United States, in 1838. 

 The collection is described by a committee of the Na- 

 tional Institute as follows : 



"Among the effects of the late Mr. Smithson is a cabinet 

 which, so far as it has been examined, proves to consist of a 

 choice and beautiful collection of minerals, comprising prob- 

 ably eight or ten thousand specimens. The specimens, 

 though generally small, are extremely perfect, and consti- 

 tute a very complete geological and mineralogical series, em- 

 bracing the finest varieties of crystallization, rendered more 

 valuable by accompanying figures and descriptions by Mr. 

 Smithson, and in his own writing. The cabinet also contains 

 a valuable suite of meteoric stones, which appear to be suites 

 of most of the important meteorites which have fallen in 

 Europe during several centuries." 



Three years later, in 1841, there was formed in Washing- 

 ton, chiefly through the exertions of Honorable Joel R. 

 Poinsett, of South Carolina, a scientific organization under 

 the name of the National Institute, with the avowed pur- 

 pose of assembling scientific collections. Article 14 of the 

 bill of incorporation reads thus: 



"The resident and corresponding members shall exert 

 themselves to procure specimens of natural history, and so 

 forth ; and the said specimens shall be placed in the cabinet, 

 under the superintendence of a board of curators, to be ap- 

 pointed by the directors. All such specimens, and so forth, 

 unless deposited specially, shall remain in the cabinet; and, 

 in case of the dissolution of the institution, shall become the 

 property of the United States." 1 



The Institute was dissolved in 1861 and its collections 

 deposited in the Smithsonian Institution. "By this so- 



1 Rhees, W. J. " The Smithsonian Institution: Documents Relative to its Origin," page 240. 



