72 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
project so as to make it a scientific expedition to the Pacific 
under Lieut. Charles Wilkes ” of the navy. 
Dana, Pickering, Peale, and other men of science 
were among the scientific staff, which also included J. P. 
Couthouy,” an enthusiastic conchologist, who enlisted in 
a minor capacity, to avail himself of the unusual oppor- 
tunities offered by the expedition. Wilkes was an ener- 
getic and capable officer, though something of a martinet; 
the expedition was remarkably successful. New charts 
were made, new Antarctic lands discovered, and enormous 
collections obtained and sent home at each available 
opportunity. These were unpacked and stored in the 
Patent Office, which also housed the library and collec- 
tions of an association known as the National Institute, 
2 Charles Wilkes, the Commander of the United States Exploring 
Expedition, was born in New York, April 3, 1798, entered the navy 
and rose to the rank of Admiral. His abilities were recognized as 
of a very high order. His services in the Civil War were valuable 
and he derived much popularity from his action (afterward diplo- 
matically disavowed) in seizing the Confederate commissioners 
Mason and Slidell, from a British vessel on the high seas. He died 
in Washington, Feb. 8, 1877. His mansion, formerly the “‘Dolly 
Madison house,” is now occupied by the Cosmos Club. 
3 Joseph Pitty Couthouy, born in Boston, Jan. 6, 1808, a ship- 
master by profession, was appointed by President Jackson to a post 
on the Scientific staff of the Exploring Expedition and his notes, 
drawings and collections form the basis of the report on the shells 
of the expedition prepared by Dr. A. A. Gould. He volunteered in 
the navy during the Civil War, and while in command of the U.S. S. 
Chilicothe off Grand Ecore, Louisiana, was shot from ambush and 
died April 4, 1864. He was an excellent naturalist, and fuller details 
may be found in regard to his life, in the Proc. Biological Soc. of 
Washington, volume iv, pp. 108-111, 1888. 
*4For an exhaustive account of the relations of the Institute to the 
Smithsonian see “Genesis of the National Museum,” by G. Brown 
Goode. Ann. Rep. U. S. Nat. Museum for 1891, Washington, 1893. 
