70 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



fore to Samuel Pierpont Langley, Edward Charles Pickering, 

 Henry Augustus Rowland, Herman Carl Vogel, James Edward 

 Keeler, Sir William Huggins, George Ellery Hale, William 

 Wallace Campbell and Charles Greeley Abbot. 



On this occasion the Academy announces its award of the 

 Draper Medal to M. Henri Deslandres, Director of the Astro- 

 physical Observatory at Meudon, France. 



More than a century ago the annals of science were rendered 

 forever memorable by the contributions of three illustrious 

 Frenchmen; Lagrange, Laplace, and Lavoisier. They set 

 standards of excellence for investigation and for exposition which 

 have since served as models for the world of science. It is with 

 the spirit and with the thoroughness of these masters that M. 

 Deslandres has pursued the rapidly expanding fields of astro- 

 physics during the past quarter of a century, until he has become 

 one of the pre-eminent leaders of this science. His work of 

 necessity extends to a wide range of activities; embracing phy- 

 sical observations of solar eclipses; investigations of electric and 

 magnetic phenomena of the sun; contributions to our theories of 

 auroras, new stars and nebula?; studies of spectra of the sun, stars 

 and comets, and photographic determinations of the rotation 

 periods of planets. His researches with and improvements of 

 the spectroheliograph are especially noteworthy, for he has thus 

 been able to show the structure and the physical nature of the 

 sun's gaseous mass at varying depths from its turbulent surface. 

 In recognition of the high merits of these contributions to science 

 and in commendation of his effective organization of the Meudon 

 Observatory the Academy bestows upon him the Draper Medal. 



In the absence of M. Deslandres, the President of the United 

 States is requested to deliver this medal to His Excellency the 

 Ambassador from France for transmission to our eminent 

 colleague. 



PRESIDENT WILSON: Your Excellency, I am very sorry that 

 the distinguished recipient of this medal could not be present, 

 but it gives me a great deal of pleasure, as the representative of 



