ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 55 
International Commission for the Establishment of Electrical 
Waits?" ** 
The international conference opened in Paris on October 16, 
1882, but the delegates of the United States were not able to 
attend until the second meeting which was held on October 26, 
1882.°7 
The work of this session was chiefly preliminary. ‘The dele- 
gates were not present at the second session, which was held in 
1884, the United States being represented by Mr. Vignaud, sec- 
retary of the American Legation, who presented several com- 
munications on their behalf.** At this conference the “legal,” 
or “congress” ohm, ampere, and volt were established. 
1883-1887 
Dr. Henry Draper, an astronomer of note, and a member of 
the National Academy, died on November 20, 1882. At the 
spring session of the following year the President announced 
that Mrs. Mary Anna Palmer Draper, his widow, had presented 
to the Academy the sum of $6000 for the purpose of establishing 
a gold medal to be called the “‘ Henry Draper Medal,” and to 
be awarded to “ any person in the United States of America or 
elsewhere who shall make an original investigation in Astro- 
nomical Physics, the results of which shall be made known to the 
public, such results being, in the opinion of the said National 
Academy of Sciences, of sufficient importance and benefit to 
science to merit such recognition.” 
The first Henry Draper Medal was awarded in 1885 to Pro- 
fessor S. P. Langley. In making this award the committee 
remarked, “The committee bases this recommendation upon the 
numerous investigations of a high order of merit which have 
been made by Professor Langley within the past few years in 
solar physics, and especially in the domain of radiant energy.” 
* Stat. at Large, vol. 22, 1883, p. 302, 47th Congress, rst Session, chap. 433. 
* Ministére des Affaires Etrangéres. Conférence Internationale pour la Détermination des 
Unité Electriques. 16 Octobre, 26 Octobre, 1882. Procés-verbaux. Paris, 1882, pp. 
8, 154. 
* Idem, 2d Session, 1884, pp. 6, 13, 37, 67, 80. 
