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TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess.II. Ch. 147. 1838.

Further provi-so.

Statute II.June 28, 1838.

Act of March3, 1843, ch. 94,sec. 5.

President au-thorized to ap-point three per-sons.

The board togive notice ofthe time andplace of theirmeeting.

Appropriation.

son, claiming the benefit of this law as aforesaid, shall swear falsely inthe premises, he shall be subject to all the pains and penalties for per-jury, forfeit the money which he may have paid for the land, and allright and title to the said land, and any grant or conveyance which hemay have made in pursuance of such agreement or contract, as afore-said, shall be void, except in the hands of a purchaser in good faith, fora valuable consideration without notice. And the certificate whichshall be filed with the commissioner as aforesaid, shall be taken to beconclusive evidence that the oath was legally administered: And pro-vided, further, That it shall be the duty of the President of the UnitedStates to cause to be reserved from sale or entry, under the provisionsof this or any other law of the United States , any tract or tracts of landreserved to any Choctaw, under the provisions of the treaty of DancingRabbit Creek, of one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and also toreserve from sale or entry, a sufficient quantity of the lands acquired bysaid treaty, upon which no such settlement or improvement has beenmade, as would entitle the settler or improver to a right of pre-emptionunder this act, to satisfy the claims of such Indians as may have beenentitled to reservations under the said treaty, and whose lands may havebeen sold by the United States , on account of any default, neglect, oromission of duty on the part of any officer of the United States ; suchreservation from sale to continue until the claims to reservations undersaid treaty, shall be investigated by the board of commissioners appointedfor that purpose, and their report finally acted on by Congress .

Approved, June 22, 1838.

Chap. CXLVII .—An Act authorizing the appointment of persons to test the use-fulness of inventions to improve and render safe the boilers of steam engines

against explosions. ( a )

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates of America in Congress assembled, That the President of theUnited States be, and he hereby is, authorized to appoint three persons,one of whom at least shall be a man of experience and practical know-ledge in the construction and use of the steam engine, and the others,by reason of their attainments in science, shall be competent judges ofthe usefulness of any invention designed to detect the causes of explo-sion in the boilers; which said persons shall jointly examine any inven-tions made for the purpose of detecting the cause, and preventing theexplosion of boilers, that shall be presented for their consideration; and,if any one or more of such inventions or discoveries justify, in theirjudgment, the experiment, and the inventor desires that his inventionshall be subjected to the test, then the said persons may proceed andorder such preparations to be made, and such experiments to be tried,as, in their judgment, may be necessary to determine the character andusefulness of any such invention.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said board shall givenotice of the time and place of their meeting to examine such inven-tions, and shall direct the preparations to be made, and the experimentsto be tried, at such place as they shall deem most suitable and con-venient for the purpose; and shall make full report of their doings toCongress at their next session.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That, to carry into effect the fore-going objects, there be, and hereby is, appropriated, out of any moneyin the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of six thousanddollars; and so much thereof as shall be necessary for the above pur-poses shall be subject to the order of the said board, and to defray such

(a) An act to provide for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled inwhole or in part by steam ; July 7, 1838, chap. 191.