1837, the commission examined the coins since the last testing, rather than for a particular calendar year). In 1801, the usual meeting was delayed, causing Mint Director Elias Boudinot to complain to President John Adams that depositors were anxious for an audit so the Mint could release coins struck from their bullion. Numismatist Fred Reed suggested that the delay was probably due to poor weather, making it difficult for officials to travel from the new capital of Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia for the assay. In response, on March 3, 1801, Congress changed the designation of officials required to attend to "the district judge of Pennsylvania, the attorney for the United States in the district of Pennsylvania, and the commissioner of loans for the State of Pennsylvania". The meeting finally took place on April 27, 1801. The 1806 and 1815 sessions were delayed because of outbreaks of disease in Philadelphia; the one in 1812 was held a month late because of a heavy snowstorm which prevented the commissioners from reaching the Mint. No meeting took place in 1817; a fire had damaged the Philadelphia Mint in January 1816, and no gold or silver awaited the commission. In 1818, Congress substituted the Collector of the Port of Philadelphia for the Pennsylvania loans commissioner as a member of the Assay Commission. With the Coinage Act of 1834, Congress removed the automatic disqualification of Mint officers in the event of an unfavorable assay, leaving the decision to the president. The Mint Act of 1837 established the Assay Commission in the form it would have for most of the remainder of its existence. It provided that "an annual trial shall be made of the pieces reserved for this purpose [i.e., set aside for the assay] at the Mint and its branches, before the judge of the district court of the United States, for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, the attorney of the United States, for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, and the collector of the port of Philadelphia, and such other persons as the President shall, from time to time, designate for that purpose, who shall meet as commissioners, for the performance of this duty, on the second Monday in February, annually". The usual procedure for members of the public to be named to the commission after public appointments began was for the Mint Director to send the president a list of candidates for his