72 EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



obviate these difficulties, and to determine for himself and his 

 successors the character of his official position, the Secretary was con- 

 strained to resort to a rightful exertion of his authority, as plainly ex- 

 pressed in the law, and, without an appeal to the board, to reorganize 

 his corps of assistants. The majority of the Regents fully approved 

 of this course, and, to prevent difficulty in the future, repealed the 

 regulation relative to the division of the income, adopting at the same 

 time a resolution offered by the late Judge Douglas, that no official 

 letter or communication pertaining to the affairs of the Institution 

 should be written except under the authority and by the direction of 

 the Secretary. Under this arrangment, which has now been in opera- 

 tion twelve years, all the affairs of the Institution have been con- 

 ducted with harmony, and, as I venture to think, with an efficiency 

 which evinces the wisdom of the provision for securing conformity 

 of purpose and unity of action. 



In the reorganization of the personnel of the establishment, the 

 Secretary employed as his first assistant Professor Spencer F. Baird, 

 and as chief clerk William J. Rhees, each of whom receives a perma- 

 nent salary, affixed by a resolution of the Board of Regents to their 

 respective offices. Other assistants are employed on such terms as 

 the Secretary may think just. 



It is evident, from the plan of organization, that the duty required 

 of the assistants is of a clerical rather than a scientific char- 

 acter, since service of the latter kind, as has been fully shown, 

 can always be obtained from the collaborators without charge, or 

 from experts employed for the occasion and paid in proportion to the 

 time of engagment. Although the terms of the reappointment of Pro- 

 fessor Baird prescribe that he shall render assistance in any line of 

 duty in which the Secretary may require his aid, yet on account of 

 his zeal in the cultivation of natural history, and his skill and expe- 

 rience in the collection and arrangement of specimens, his labors have 

 principally been assigned to such objects. He has likewise had 

 charge of the business of exchanges, and in part also of the print- 

 ing and correspondence. To Mr. Rhees has been assigned the duty 

 of superintending the accounts and auditing all the bills of expendi- 

 tures made by the Secretary and authorized under the general ap- 

 propriation of the Regents, while he has at the same time acted as 

 paymaster and assisted in the official correspondence. 



Another assistant, Mr. William Q. Force, of this city, who has 

 been for several years connected with the Institution, has charge 

 of the meteorological materials which are constantly accumulating, 



