xvi OBITUARY NOTICES OF MEMBERS DECEASED. 



interest in electrical advancement but of the early recognition of his 

 foremost position at the time, he was appointed U. S. Commissioner 

 to the Paris Electrical Exposition held in 1881, and an official dele- 

 gate to the Electrical Congress then held. This was indeed a famous 

 congress, by which much work of vital interest and importance was 

 either accomplished or initiated, particularly concerning the nomen- 

 clature of the several electrical units, and the evaluation of stand- 

 ards ; a work which has been continued by the subsequent inter- 

 national chambers of delegates at each of the important Congresses 

 held since that time; the last being that at St. Louis in 1904. 



At the Paris Exposition of 1881, which was the first exposition 

 to be devoted to electricity solely. Dr. Barker was also made vice- 

 president of the Jury of Awards, and in recognition of his services 

 received the decoration of Commander de la Legion D'Honneur, 

 an honor accorded to but few Americans. He was also a member 

 of the U. S. Commission at the Electrical Congress held during the 

 Philadelphia Electrical Exhibition of the Franklin Institute in 1884. 

 He served also on the Jury of Awards at the World's Columbian 

 Exposition in 1893. 



During his long connection with the University of Pennsylvania, 

 his services were valued very hightly by his associates ; he was 

 always helpful in the solution of the problems presented, and 

 brought to bear a ripe judgment so as to decide upon the course to 

 be taken in any case with fairness and calmness. His service to 

 the community w'as none the less valuable. This was evident in his 

 work while a member of the Board of Public Education, and his 

 counsel in relation to such matters as water supply, illuminating 

 gas and other municipal problems was much esteemed. Dr. Barker 

 was one of the first to point out the fallacies and trickery of the 

 famous Keely motor scheme, and to denounce it in the public prints. 

 This scheme was actively exploited in the late seventies in Phila- 

 delphia. Needless is it to say that all the subsequent history of that 

 long-lived fraud, and its final wind-up and exposure upon the death 

 of Keely amply confirmed the entire justice of Dr. Barker's original 

 denunciation of it. 



As an author and writer he was. as in other things, most careful 



