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site selected by the board, set out by metes and bounds, shall be made 

 and si2;ned by the regents present, and shall have also appended the as- 

 sent of the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, 

 the Secrf^tary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Commissioner 

 of the Patent Office, to the same. And the Secretary shall also record in 

 the same the will of James Smithson ; the original act of Congress ac- 

 cepting the trust ; the law establishing the existing institution ;,the reso- 

 lution of Congress appointing! regents of the Smithsonian Institution ; 

 also, the certificates of the Secretary of the Senate and of the Clerk of the 

 House of Representatives, respectively, as to the regents appointed from 

 their respective houses. 

 On motion. 



Resolved^ That a committee of three be appointed by the Chancellor, 

 from the members of the board, to digest a plan to carry out the f5rovis- 

 ions of the act to establish the Smithsonian Institution, and that they 

 report the same to the next meeting of the board. 



Whereupon, the Chancellor appointed Mr. Owen, Mr. Hilliard, and 

 Mr. Bache said committee. 



The following preamble and resolution were offered and agreed to : 



Whereas the act to establish the Smithsonian Institution prescribes an 

 appropriation, not exceeding an average of twenty-five thousand dollars 

 annually, for the gradual formation of a library, composed of valuable 

 hooks pertaining to all departments of human knowledge: Therefore, 



Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, to prepare a report 

 upon the subject of the formation of such a library, indicating its gene- 

 ral character and the modes of proceeding to accumulate it, and to pre- 

 sent such report at the next regular meeting of the board. 



Whereupon, the Chancellor appointed Mr. Choate, Mr. Hawley, and 

 Mr. Rush said committee. 



Adjourned to 10 o'clock to-morrow. 



WEDNESDAY, September 9, 1S46. 



The board met pursuant to adjournment. 



Present, the same regents as yesterday. 



Mr. Owen presented to the board, in behalf of David D. Owen, M. D., 

 of Indiana, a plan, drawings, and specifications of a building for said in- 

 stitution. 



Mr. Owen also presented a plan and drawings for the same from Mr, 

 Robert Mills, architect, of Washington. 

 On motion, 



Resolved, That the Chancellor and Secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution and the Executive Committee of the Board of Regents be, and 

 they are hereby, authorized and instructed to take such measures as may 

 be deemed by them most proper to obtain plans for the erection of build- 

 ings, fulfilling all the conditions in reference to them contained in the 

 law organizing this institution, and that said committee report such plan 

 as they may approve to this board, at its next meeting: and further, that 

 said committee specially report in regard to the best material for said 

 buildings, and to the best modes of warming, lighting, and ventilating 

 the same, with estimates of the cost when constructed of different mate- 



