Barker.] \)o\J [Dec. 1, 



Henry Draper. 



{Minute prepared by Oeo. F. Barker, Secretary American P/nlcsopJdcai 

 Society, for Proceedings, December 1, 1882. ) 



Henry Draper was born on the 7th of March, 1837, in Prince Edward 

 county, Va., his father being at the time Professor of Chemistry and Nat- 

 ural Philosophy in Hampden Sidney College. When but two years old, 

 his father was called to the chair of Chemistry in the University of the City 

 of New York, and removed to that city in 1839. Henry was entered as a 

 regular scholar, first in the primary, and subsequently in the preparatory 

 schools connected with the University, and at the age of fifteen, entered 

 the collegiate department as an undergraduate. Upon the completion of 

 his sophomore year, however, he abandoned the classical course and en- 

 tered the medical department, from which he graduated with distinction 

 in 1858. The following year he spent in Europe. While abroad he was 

 elected on the medical staff of Bellevue Hospital ; and on his return he 

 assumed the position and discharged its duties for eighteen months. In 

 1860, at the age of 23, he w^as elected Professor of Physiology in the Classical 

 department of the University, and, in 1866, to the same chair in the Medi- 

 cal department ; being soon after appointed Dean. In 1873, he severed 

 his connection with the medical department ; and in 1882, upon the death 

 of his father, he was elected Professor of Chemistry in the Classical de- 

 partment ; a position which he held until the close of the current aca- 

 demic year. 



Reared in direct contact with science and scientific thought, as Dr. 

 Draper was, it is not surprising that at an early age he developed a decided 

 preference for scientific pursuits. His father was a man not only of the 

 widest scientific knowledge, but he was also of exceptional ability as an in- 

 vestigator. To live in contact with this genial and learned man, was of 

 itself a scientific education of the highest type. Henry was early taken 

 into his confidence in scientific matters, and was called upon to assist his 

 father not only in his lectures, but also in his investigations. The scien- 

 tific spirit which presses forward uuflaggingly in the pursuit of truth and 

 which wrests from Nature the profoundest secrets by patient and long con- 

 tinued application, had long been characteristic of the elder Draper ; it 

 was now fully developed in his son. While yet a medical student, he un- 

 dertook a most difficult research upon the functions of the spleen ; and, 

 conscious of the inaccuracies incident to drawings, he illustrated this re- 

 search—afterward published as his graduating thesis— with micropho- 

 tographs of rare perfection for those early dajs, all taken by him- 

 self. While engaged with the microscope in making these photographs, he 

 discovered that palladious chloride had a remarkable power in darkening 

 or intensifying negatives ; an observation subsenuently nf much value in 



photography. 



During his sojourn in Europe, he had visited the great reflecting tele- 

 scope of Lord Rosse at Parsonstown, Ireland. The sight of this instrument 



