1 882. lOY Trans. N. Y. Ac. Set, 



were graduated. The existence of the school was imperiled in 1865, 

 when fire destroyed its building, with the museum and apparatus ; but 

 Dr. Draper succeeded in obtaining temporary accommodations, and 

 the exercises went on without the loss of a single day. Dr. Mott re- 

 signed the Presidency of the Medical Faculty in 1850, and was suc- 

 ceeded by Dr. Draper, who retained the position until 1873, when he 

 resigned it in order to devote himself wholly to his duties in the Colle- 

 giate Department. 



Dr. Draper's lectures on physiology were as eloquent as they were 

 original, and reflected well his daily work as an investigator. They 

 were published in 1856 as a Treatise on Human Physiology, which 

 was recognized at once as a substantial contribution to ihe rapidly de- 

 veloping science of which it treated. This work was the record of ob- 

 servations covering more than twenty years. 



The History of the Intellecttial Development of Europe was but 

 the outgrowth of the work on physiology — a grand expanding of its 

 second portion. It is familiar to most of us, and needs neither descrip- 

 tion nor discussion here. Soon after the publication of this work. Dr. 

 Draper began the preparation of a History of the Civil War in 

 Atnerica, which was published in three large volumes. During its 

 preparation he enjoyed exceptional advantages. 



After completing the History of the Civil War, Dr. Draper re- 

 turned to those physical studies of which the continuity had been in- 

 terrupted by his literary labors. During the last ten years of his lite 

 he revised his earlier publications, and gave them in condensed form 

 under the title of Scientific Memoirs. In these he included also the 

 results of investigations conducted during the preparation of this vol- 

 ume, some of which were of cardinal importance. 



It would be difficult to over-estimate the value of Dr. Draper's 

 labors, which are interwoven with the progress of scientific discovery 

 during the last forty years. He was the first to take the human por- 

 trait by light, and he was the first to discover and to photograph the 

 lines below the red in the spectrum. He laid the foundation on which 

 Bunsen and Kirchoff reared a noble superstructure, without much re- 

 gard to the master builder who had preceded them in the work. Of 

 his discoveries in physiology, the most important were made so long 

 ago that they have now become incorporated into the science so fully 

 that the name of the discoverer is rarely mentioned in connection with 

 them. 



This Academy should hold the memory of Dr. Draper dear to it. 

 Soon after reaching New York he became an active member of the 

 Academy, then the Lyceum of Natural History. Many of his earlier 

 results were first announced in its meetings, and the proofs of his dis- 



