342 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



medal, and its silver duplicate, to you, to be carefully transmitted by 

 you to Mr. Joseph Harrison, Jr., whose name is inscribed upon them. 

 The Secretaries will add an engrossed and attested copy of the pro- 

 ceedings of this meeting relative to the subject. Be pleased, my dear 

 sir, to convey them to the hands of the gentleman whose invention the 

 Academy desires to honor and to crown ; and take with them to him 

 the felicitations and the hearty good wishes of the Fellows of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences here assembled to administer 

 Count Rumford's trust. 



After Mr. Coleman had received the medals, he read the 

 following response, directed to the President and Members of 

 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen : — 



In receiving the Rumford Medals, which have been awarded to me 

 in so flattering a manner by the American Academy of Arts and Sci- 

 ences, I fear that I cannot express in suitable terms my appreciation of 

 this distinguished honor. I can, therefore, only say, that I do esteem 

 this compliment very highly indeed, and I shall ever cherish these 

 tokens with the greatest pride. To my mind, there is nothing within 

 the limits of science at the present time that is of more importance 

 than the " application of heat " to the safe generation of steam, and 

 to have won a recognized distinction in such a field, and to have been 

 deemed worthy of the reward that your honorable Society has be- 

 stowed upon me, fully repays me for many years of anxious, and often 

 of discouraging, effort. In what I have done I claim but little merit 

 beyond having called attention, for the last twelve years, to the great 

 importance of the question, and in having in some degree demon- 

 strated the fact that a Steam Generator can be made secure from 

 destructive explosion. I think that this idea has now taken such a 

 firm hold upon the public mind, both in this country and in Europe, 

 that it may be fairly inferred that in the future the use of steam under 

 pressure, no matter what form the apparatus may eventually assume, 

 will not be attended with the disastrous results that are recorded in the 

 past. In expressing my regret at being unable to attend your meeting 

 on January 9th, so as to receive the medals in person, I most sincerely 

 thank you, Mr. President and Members of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, for this very high mark of your approbation. 



JOSEPH HARRISON, Jr. 

 Philadelphia, Jan. 6, 1872. 



