The United States National Museum 317 



"I can find no record in the minutes of the Regents," 

 writes Doctor Goode, "but have been informed by Mr. W. 

 J. Rhees, of the Smithsonian Institution, that an urgent re- 

 quest for the use of the hall was made by the Commissioner of 

 Patents and the Secretary of the Interior, and that the Board 

 decided to grant this request on the condition that Congress 

 should appropriate money for the construction of the cases 

 and the transfer of the collections, and that the Secretary of 

 the Interior should provide for the expenses of the care of 

 the collections after their transfer in the same manner as 

 before." 1 



The collections were transferred to the Institution in 1858. 

 Professor Baird reported that year 2 that twelve separate col- 

 lections were received from the Patent Office, of which the 

 most considerable was the collection of the exploring expe- 

 dition under Captain Wilkes. He estimated that the Patent 

 Office collections together constituted about one-fifth of the 

 objects in the Smithsonian museum. He pointed out also that 

 there were then in the museum twenty- three other govern- 

 ment collections which had never been in the Patent Office. 

 These were chiefly assembled by the different field parties of 

 the Pacific Railroad Survey, the Mexican Boundary Survey, 

 and other government expeditions engaged in exploring the 

 national domain. 



The policy relating to the treatment of the collections 

 adopted by the Institution was fully explained in the report 

 of the Secretary for 1861, though in most of its essential 

 features it was in operation as early as 1857. Secretary 

 Henry remarks: 3 



"The specimens may be divided into two classes first, 

 those which have been described in the reports of govern- 



1 Goode. " Genesis of the United States National Museum," page 342. 

 2 " Smithsonian Report," 1858, page 52. 3 " Smithsonian Report," 1861, page 41. 



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