Publication InformationSmithsonian InstitutionWashington March 10' 1851

My dear Mr. Marsh,

I enclose receipt of keg containing 15 gallons of alcohol, "Preserving fluid," shipped to Smyrna on March 1 by Yasigi and Goddard: I trust that it will reach you safely and be turned to good account.

The Board of Regents held its last meeting about the end of February. They did not do much beyond voting 25.000 dollars for the active operations of the Institution. Prof. Henry asked them to build houses for us, and to raise salaries of Mr. Jewett, and myself, but they declined. They are as impracticable as Congress, which I regret to see, has refused to raise your salary. I hope they will do this at the next session.

I do not know of anything new since my last. Spring is setting in, and the weather will soon begin to grow warm. The folks here are all well, excepting Mary, who has a severe cold. I see Mrs. Wislizenus and the Doctor every now and then, the latter comes to the Institution semi- occasionally, that means not often enough. He is a valuable acquaintance, and one whom I esteem highly.

Since this letter was commenced, I have seen Mr. Brown who returns shortly to Turkey, and who has kindly offered to take anything to you. He promises too, to assist in getting specimens for us. Do try and raise me skulls of camel c. With the other fry I begged for. We send by him, some miscellanea for you,

Yours very sincerely and in hasteS F BairdHon. Geo. P. MarshConstantinople.

I had almost forgotten to send love to Mrs. M.

References in this letter:

A Boston shipping company.

There were fourteen members on the Smithsonian Board of Regents, including the Vice-President of the United States, the Chief Justice, three senators, three members of the House, two residents of Washington, DC, and four from different states. Marsh was appointed to the Board, as one of the congressional representatives, in 1847.

Trained as a physicist, Joseph Henry (1797-1878) was professor of natural philosophy at Princeton University where he conducted original research on electricity and magnetism. When the Smithsonian Institution was created, he was chosen as its first Secretary. From 1846 to 1878 Henry established basic policies and defined the scope of the Smithsonian's activities.

Charles Coffin Jewett (1816-1868), a distinguished librarian from Brown University, was appointed senior assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1848. He and Joseph Henry were continually in conflict over the importance of the library within the Institution's mandate and he was fired by the Board in 1855. He later became superintendent of the Boston Public Library.

Frederick Adolph Wislizenus (1810-1889), a German born physician, emigrated to the United States in 1835. He published a scientific account of his trip to Chihuahua, Mexico in Memoirs of a Tour to Northern Mexico, Connected with Colonel Doniphan's Expedition in 1846 and 1847. (Washington: Tippin and Streeper, 1848). In 1850 he married Lucy Crane, Caroline Crane Marsh's sister; they settled in St. Louis where he practiced medicine.

John P. Brown was Marsh's translator. He accompanied Amin Bey, a Turkish naval officer, on a tour of America beginning in 1850.