EEPOET OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



U. Walter, esq., architect of the United States Capitol extension, for 

 the beautiful design of the cases, and to Edw. Clark, esq., architect of 

 the Interior Department, for the inspection of the work during its 

 progress and the examination of the accounts presented by the con- 

 tractor. 



In order to increase the capacity of the large room appropriated to 

 the collection, the cases have been arranged in two stories, forming a 

 series of alcoves and a gallery on each side. By the adoption of this 

 plan space can be provided for double the number of specimens which 

 were exhibited at the Patent Office. 



A considerable portion of the collections has been arranged, and a 

 taxidermist employed to repair the specimens of zoology which have 

 been damaged, and to prepare for exhibition others which had not 

 previously been mounted. The museum will soon be an object of 

 continued and increasing interest to the inhabitants of the city and to 

 strangers who visit the capital of the United States. 



Among the specimens many duplicates occur which might be ad- 

 vantageously distributed perhaps to the principal societies of natural 

 history in this and other countries ; and I respectfully ask the Board 

 of Eegents to determine, regarding this point, whether, in their judg- 

 ment, the Institution can venture to make such distribution without 

 further instruction from Congress. If within its power, this measure 

 would seem evidently calculated to further one of the legitimate ends 

 of the Institution in diffusing more widely the materials of science and 

 the means of education. 



An assent to the arrangement above stated for taking charge of the 

 government collections is by no means inconsistent with the regret 

 expressed in previous reports that the law of Congress directed pro- 

 vision to be made from the Smithsonian fund for a public museum and 

 library. It must be evident to any one who attentively studies the 

 past history of the operations of the Institution that the interest of 

 the money expended on the building intended for this purpose would 

 have been much more efficiently applied in the development and publica- 

 tion of new truths. But, in all cases where many views are to be 

 consulted, the question is not merely what ought to be, but what can 

 be accomplished. From the first there has existed a clear conception 

 of the means by which the idea of the donor could be best realized, 

 and the aim of the majority of the Eegents has continually been to 

 approximate, as nearly as the restrictions of Congress would allow, to 

 the plan originally proposed. The policy has been invariably the 



