82 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
spectroscopic astronomy, and the Watson Medal to Sir David 
Gill, Her Majesty’s Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, 
“for his work in perfecting the application of the heliometer to 
astronomical measurements, which has resulted in an important 
advance in astronomy of precision, especially in the determina- 
tion of parallaxes of the sun and stars and of the position of the 
planets.” *° 
The fourth President of the Academy, Professor O. C. Marsh 
died on March 18, 1899. He had been Acting President in 1878 
and 1882, and President from 1883 to 1895. He bequeathed 
to the Academy the sum of $10,000 “ for promoting original 
research in the natural sciences.” *° 
The time having arrived once more in 1900 for an award of 
the Barnard Medal, the committee appointed by the Academy 
unanimously recommended Professor Réntgen for that honor, 
in the following letter: 
“The committee appointed to select one or more names of persons who are 
best entitled to receive the Barnard medal from Columbia University respect- 
fully report that, after careful consideration of the subject, the name of Prof. 
Wilhelm Conrad Réntgen is presented as being that of the person who has within 
the five years beginning July 17, 1894, made the discovery which is most worthy 
of this honor, under the terms of the will of President Barnard. 
“ Professor Réntgen announced his discovery of what he called the X-rays, now 
commonly known as Rontgen rays, in December, 1895. “These rays exhibit many 
peculiar properties, and have been applied to various practical uses, the most 
important of which thus far have been in surgery. ‘They are at the present time one 
of the most interesting and important subjects of research in physical science, and 
the discovery may be properly termed an epoch-making one.” §7 
In the ensuing year the Henry Draper Medal was awarded 
to Sir William Huggins for his investigations in astronomical 
physics. The report of the committee, though somewhat long 
for quotation in this connection, is so very interesting that it 
seems desirable that it should be given in full. It is as follows: 
“Tt is not an easy matter to concentrate into a few pages the results attained by 
an active worker during a period of nearly half a century. Fortunately, in the 
® Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1899, p. ro. 
® See Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1910, p. 15. 
Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1900, p. 11. 
