The Vice President took the chair.

The minutes were then read and approved.

The minutes of the last meeting of the "Establishment" were read for information, according to the by-laws of that body.

The Secretary stated to the Board the action of Congress at its last session relative to the construction of cases in the Smithsonian building for the government collections, and also the decision of the Attorney General respecting the law.

The Secretary then presented the annual report of the operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institution during the year 1857; which was read.

The Board then visited the rooms of the building, the collections, &c., and adjourned.

WASHINGTON, April 10, 1858.

The Board of Regents met this day at 11 o'clock a. m.

Present: Hon. J. M. Mason, Hon. S. A. Douglas, Hon. George E. Badger, Hon. Benj. Stanton, Hon. L. J. Gartrell.

Mr. Mason was called to the chair.

The minutes were read and approved.

The report of the Building Committee for the year 1857 was read and accepted.

The report of the Executive Committee was presented, together with the estimates for the year 1858.

Communications relative to the care of the government collections, the Wynn estate, the publications, investigations, and other operations of the Institution, were read.

On motion of Mr. Badger, the Secretary was directed to have the windows and other parts of the east wing of the building put in good order.

The following report from Professor Felton was presented:

REPORT ON THE PRESENT OF MISS CONTAXAKI.

The Secretary laid before the Board a volume received from Greece, and sent as a gift to the Smithsonian Institution, together with the letter of the Hon. Mr. Spence, late United States minister to Constantinople, to the Secretary of State, and the letter of the Hon. Lewis Cass, the Secretary of State, to Professor Henry, the Secretary of the Institution. The volume and the correspondence were referred to Professor Felton.

The volume was transmitted from Athens, Greece, through Mr.

Spence. It was designed and executed by a Greek lady of rare literary accomplishments, Miss Elizabeth B. Contaxaki, assisted by six Greek gentlemen, resident in Athens. It contains sketches of the principal ruins in that city, and views of the most famous historical places there and in other parts of Greece, correctly drawn and delicately colored, together with the passage, from the classic authors, in which the objects and places are described or referred to, translations of the passages, and extracts from English and French writers on the same subjects. The book is adorned with exquisitely drawn vignettes, and emblematic devices, and with specimens of the wild flowers which grow in the places described, carefully preserved, pressed, and attached to the leaves. The volume is bound in blue velvet, and tastefully decorated with silver. It is put in an elegantly and richly carved case, made of olive wood, from the olive groves near Athens, where stood, in ancient times, the academic groves of Plato's school. The body of the case is made of the trunk of the tree, and the ornamental portions, of the root, which is of darker and richer color. This beautiful gift, therefore, combines a great variety of objects, possessing, from their associations with the loftiest achievements of Hellenic genius, a deep and singular interest, and forming a most appropriate memorial of the country from which European art, education, philosophy, and letters took their rise.

Miss Contaxaki, the tasteful designer of this memorial, is a native of the island of Crete. At the time of the outbreak of the Greek revolution, her father was a landed proprietor there, and, in common with the great body of the Hellenic race, lost most of his property by the rapacity and tyranny of the Turks. His family was dispersed, and his daughter Elizabeth became an inmate in the family of the Rev. Dr. John H. Hill, the American missionary, who established himself in Athens, at the close of the war, for the benevolent and enlightened purpose of aiding the Greeks to reconstruct the shattered edifice of civilization, by establishing the school, which still continues to dispense the blessings of education among the children of its first pupils in that illustrious capital. Residing with Dr. Hill for many years, and educated chiefly under his superintendence and care, Elizabeth became known to many American travellers in the East, by whom she has often been mentioned with a cordial appreciation of her accomplishments and merits. Their personal relations have naturally inspired her with a warm interest in the United States, heightened by the sympathies of the citizens of America in the regeneration of her country, and the substantial aid furnished by them to Greece in

the hour of her utmost need. Recently Miss Contaxaki, after a visit to Constantinople, where she was received with distinction, has returned to her native island, which is under the government of the Pacha of Egypt, and, by her learning and ability, has succeeded in recovering, through the Moslem tribunal, a portion of her paternal

estate.

The volume now presented to the Smithsonian Institution was sent to the great Paris Exhibition of 1855, where it excited much admiration, and gained a diploma for its accomplished author. She has now transmitted it for permanent deposit among the treasures of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.

The Regents of the Institution accept the gift with great pleasure, not only on account of its rare beauty, its intrinsic value, and the many interesting associations it suggests with that famous city, called by Milton "the eye of Greece, mother of art and arms," but also as an expressive symbol of the hearty good will for the American republic, cherished by the enlightened spirit of a nation which has so honorably vindicated its right to the glories of an illustrious descent by re-establishing the institutions of freedom and learning on the soil where, in ancient times, they earliest flourished, and with unexampled splendor.

The committee recommends the adoption of the following resolutions by the Board:

Resolved, That the regents of the Smithsonian Institution accept, with gratitude, the splendid memorial volume presented by Miss Elizabeth B. Contaxaki, and that they recognize, in the beauty, taste, and art displayed in its general execution and style of its embellishment, a pleasing indication that the genius which placed the ancient Greeks at the head of the civilization of the world still survives in their descendants.

Resolved, That a copy of the above report, and of these resolutions, be transmitted, with a letter of acknowledgment from the Smithsonian Institution, to Miss Contaxaki, the accomplished donor.

On motion, the report was accepted and the resolutions adopted. The Board then adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1858.

The Board met this day in the Vice President's room, United States Capitol, at 9 o'clock.

Present: The Chancellor, Hon. Roger B. Taney, Hon. John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States, Hon. J. M. Mason,

Hon. J. A. Pearce, Hon. S. A. Douglas, Hon. W. H. English, Hon. Benjamin Stanton, Prof. A. D. Bache, and the Secretary.

The minutes were read and approved.

Mr. Pearce explained the report of the Executive Committee and the estimates for the year 1858, and, on motion, they were adopted.

The following report was presented from Prof. Felton, of the committee to whom was referred the communication of Mr. J. M. Stanley:

REPORT ON THE PROPOSITION TO PURCHASE THE INDIAN GALLERY.

The Secretary laid before the Board a letter from Mr. J. M. Stanley, painter of the gallery of Indian portraits, now on deposit with the Smithsonian Institution, proposing to sell them to the Institution for the sum of twelve thousand dollars.

The committee appointed to consider and report upon the subject respectfully represent that, while they are fully sensible of the great historical and ethnological value of this collection of portraits, and of their characteristic excellence, they are yet of opinion that it would be inexpedient to withdraw the sum mentioned from the funds necessary to carry on the scheme of active operations, which has been so ably inaugurated and, thus far, so successfully executed. The income of the Smithsonian fund should not be scattered among different and disconnected objects, and the sum necessary for the purchase of the gallery cannot be spared, without crippling for a time, at least, the regular operations of the Institution.

Among the Contributions to Knowledge several important works relating to the aboriginal inhabitants of America have been published by the Institution and circulated over the civilized world.

Grammars and dictionaries of the Indian languages may be mentioned as of special interest, and of great value to the science of comparative philology. Their language will probably pass away, and the races speaking them disappear; but the works to which we allude will preserve, for future investigators of the science of philology, the characteristic form in which their thoughts were expressed, and will have an important bearing, not only on general ethnological inquiries, but on the philosophy of the human mind. These volumes have been eagerly sought and studied by the most eminent comparative philologists of Europe, and have, by universal consent, contributed materially to the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men in that department of science.

But though your committee are of opinion that the purchase of this

gallery would interfere with the present plan of operations, and that it would not so directly tend to the increase and diffusion of knowledge, they would earnestly express the opinion that, in a national point of view, the value of these portraits can hardly be overestimated.

They represent forty-three different tribes, and are taken from the leading personages in them. The artist has studied carefully the peculiarities of the tribes, the characteristic expressions of the individuals, their natural attitudes and actions, their several styles of costume and ornament, and has reproduced, with artistic skill, all these particulars. To this interesting enterprise he has given ten of the best years of his life, having traversed, with great labor and inconvenience, the principal regions inhabited by the subjects of his pencil. The number of portraits, including that of the artist, enumerated in the catalogue, is one hundred and fifty-two. The price for which they are offered is much below their real value, being less than $80 a piece. At the proposed rate the artist will receive no compensation for his time and labor, and barely enough to defray the cost of material, transportation, travelling expenses and insurance.

The number of the tribes represented so faithfully in this gallery, and the prominence of the individuals, render the collection very complete and satisfactory, as presenting a general view of the characteristic features of the red man. These circumstances make it important that the gallery should be preserved entire. Its peculiar value consists in its comprehensive character no less than in the fidelity of the individual details. Centuries hence, when most all of the tribes here represented shall have disappeared, as the New England tribes, for example, have nearly disappeared, this gallery will be an object of the profoundest interest to the student of man, the historian, the philosopher, and the statesman.

The relations between the government of the United States and the Indian tribes form one of the most delicate and important subjects of national legislation. The government has not only endeavored to deal with the red men in a liberal and paternal spirit, but has done much towards illustrating their character and condition by the publication of costly works embodying the observations and researches of investigators who have devoted themselves to Indian studies. It appears to your committee that to purchase this collection, and to place it in some secure situation easy of access to visitors at the capital, would be an act worthy of the enlightened liberality of Con