The provisions of the third section of the act of assembly entitled “An act relating to the authentication of letters of attorney, protests of notaries public and assignments made out of the state and to the acknowledgment of deeds,” approved December 14, 1854,¹ for taking and certifying acknowledgments of deeds and other instruments of writing, executed in any of the United States, are hereby extended to the District of Columbia, with like effect as if the said district had been therein specially mentioned and included; and all such acknowledgments heretofore taken and certified in the said district, in the manner provided in said section, are hereby validated and confirmed, and the deeds and other instruments so acknowledged, and the records thereof when recorded, shall be deemed as valid and effectual as if said district had been mentioned and included in the provisions of said section.