PROCEEDINGS 
OF THK 
NATIONAL INSTITUTION 
FOR 
THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE. 
Vol. I. JUNE TO DECEMBER, 1840. No. 1. 
Stated Meeting , Jane 8, 1840. 
Present, twenty-six members. 
Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, First Director, in the Chair. 
By-Laws were presented by the committee appointed to 
prepare them, and approved by the meeting. 
The member^ formed themselves in classes under the De¬ 
partments specified in the By-Laws, and the Departments 
were directed to organize, and report at the next meeting. 
The following donation was received : 
Fossil vegetable remains, from the deep cut of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio Canal, near Harper’s Ferry .—From M. Krebbs . 
Special Meeting , June 26, 1840. 
Hon. Joel R. Poinsett in the Chair. 
Present, fifteen members. 
A committee of three members, consisting of the Hon. W. 
Cranch, Judge of the Circuit Court, Hon. H. D. Gilpin, At¬ 
torney General of the United States, and T. H. Crawford, Esq., 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, was appointed to inquire into 
the expediency of petitioning Congress for an act of incorpor¬ 
ation. 
