14 



THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



THE tECTTTKE ROOM. 



building between them. Tliis story may be used for a library or a museum, or 

 for both, as the wants of the Institution may require. It is finished in a simple 

 but chaste style, and has received general commendation. It is one of the most 

 imposing rooms in this country, apart even from adaptation to its purposes. 



The upper story is divided into three apartments without pillars — a lecture- 

 room in the middle, and two rooms, each 50 feet square, on either side. The 

 one on the east is for apparatus, and for meetings of societies, committees, &c. ; 

 that on the west is now occupied by Stanley's Indian Gallery and other collections. 



The whole arrangement of the upper part of the building is made with a view 

 to afford facilities for meetings of associations, which have for their object the 

 promotion, diffusion or application of knowledge. If at any time the space 

 now occupied by the lecture-room should be required for other purposes, the seats 

 and gallery may be removed, and the partition walls, which are unconnected with 

 the roof, may be taken down, and the whole upper story converted into a large hall. 



Il]e Jleefii^e l^ooii). 



The optic and acoustic properties of the lecture-room are unsurpassed by any 

 apartment, intended for the same purpose, in the United States. As has been 

 observed, it is situated in the second story of the main building; it is one hun- 

 dred feet in length, and, by occupying part of the towers, a width of seventy-five 

 feet has been secured. The ceiling is twenty-five feet high, smooth and unbroken^ 



