THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 9 



those who have critically examined the will of Smithson, to be too re- 

 stricted in their operations and too local in their influence, to meet the 

 comprehensive intentions of the testator ; and the hope has been cher- 

 ished that other means may ultimately be provided for the support of 

 those objects, and that the whole income of the Smithsonian fund may 

 be devoted to the more legitimate objects of the noble bequest. 



I have been informed by the Commissioner of Patents that the space 

 now occupied in the building of the Patent Office by the national mu- 

 seum is imperatively required for the display of models ; and he sug- 

 gests that a part or the whole of the Smithsonian building shall be pur- 

 chased for the deposit of this collection. If Congress will entirely 

 relieve the Smithsonian fund from the expense of collecting and main- 

 taining a museum, a large portion of the present building would be 

 unnecessary, and the proposition to purchase a part or the whole of it 

 might properly be entertained. The Smithsonian Institution, if required, 

 would take the supervision of a government museum, and would turn 

 over to it all the specimens collected after they had been examined and 

 described. The importance of a collection at the seat of government 

 to illustrate the physical geography, natural history, and ethnology of 

 the United States, cannot be too highly estimated. But the support of 

 such a collection ought not to be a burthen upon the Smithsonian fund. 



It was stated in the last report that the plan of an equal division of 

 the income between the library and museum on the one hand, and the 

 lectures, the publications, and researches on the other, was found not 

 to work well in practice. It leads to inharmonious action, and to a 

 system of expenditure by no means compatible with proper economy 

 or the limited income of the Smithsonian fund. The subject has, how- 

 ever, been referred to a special committee of the Regents, which I trust 

 will give it due consideration, and report their views during the present 

 session of the Board. 



Publications. — During the past year no diminution has taken place in 

 the objects of interest which have presented themselves for the assist- 

 ance and patronage of the institution. The amount of publications has 

 only been limited by the appropriation which could be devoted to this 

 purpose. 



1. The first memoir published during the past year is one by Dr» 

 Joseph Leidy, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, 

 entitled " The Ancient Fauna of Nebraska." 



A considerable portion of the country between the Mississippi and 

 the Rocky mountains consists of the more recent geological deposits, 

 and particularly on the upper Missouri there exists a tract of country 

 known by the name of the Mauvaises Terres, or the Bad Lands ; 

 this at one time was probably the bottom of an immense lake, in 

 which perished thousands of animals having no representatives at this 

 time on the surface of the earth. It appears that the waters of this 

 lake were removed by some convulsion of nature, that the sediment at 

 its bottom became indurated, and that afterwards the whole country 

 was traversed by an immense wave of water, which carried away the 

 softer parts of the strata, and left standing the harder parts in a series 

 of irregular prismatic and columnar masses, frequently capped with 



