Founding of the Institution 5 1 



forward in the following session, had a great influence upon 

 the final adjustment of the plan of administration. 1 



To the Twenty-ninth Congress (1845-1847) belongs the 

 honor of finally formulating the act of incorporation by which 

 the Smithsonian Institution was established. This was at 

 last accomplished under the leadership of Robert Dale Owen, 

 of Indiana, who reported the bill nearly in its final form, 

 though somewhat modified in a substitute offered by Mr. 

 William J. Hough, and still more by the refusal of the House 

 to agree to Mr. Owen's favorite feature of a normal school. 

 John Quincy Adams was a member of the select committee to 

 which it was referred, together with Mr. Owen, chairman ; 

 Mr. Timothy Jenkins, Mr. George P. Marsh, Mr. Alexander 

 D. Sims, Mr. Jefferson Davis, and Mr. David Wilmot 



Mr. Adams was now for the first time willing to cease his 

 advocacy of a Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory, the 

 Naval Observatory having been organized on a plan " at 

 least equal in everything but the experience of its observers 

 to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich." 



In the Hough bill, which was a modification of that of 

 Owen, there was an attempt of another kind to weld together 

 the Smithsonian Institution and the " National Cabinet of 

 Curiosities," by giving to the Board of Regents the authority 

 to erect a building by the side of the Patent Office, so as 

 to form a wing of that structure, and to connect it with the 

 hall then containing the National Cabinet, so as to constitute 

 that hall in whole or in part the depository of the cabinet of 

 the Institution. This was discretionary, however, with the Re- 

 gents, who fortunately did not look upon the plan with favor. 



Reference has been made to the marked similarity between 

 the plans of organization of the National and Smithsonian 

 Institutions. The former, like the Smithsonian, had a su- 



1 See report of Honorable James Meacham, 1854, pages IO-I2. 



