136 JOUKNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 



On motion, it was 



Besolved, That tlie Chancellor prepare a suitable notice of the death 

 of Professor Henry, to be sent to foreign establishments in correspond- 

 ence with the Institution, and also notifying them of the election of Pro- 

 fessor Baird as Secretary. 



The Chancellor stated that the resignation of Mr. Bancroft had 

 occasioned a vacancy in the Executive Committee, and, on motion, it 

 was 



Besolved, That the vacancy in the Executive Committee be filled by 

 the election of General Sherman. 



The Board then adjourned sine die. 



Agreeably to the resolution of the Board, the Chancellor of the Insti- 

 tution, on behalf of the Eegents, prepared the following circulars, which 

 were promjjtly distributed to the corresiJondents of the Institution in all 

 l)arts of the world : 



" Smithsonian Institution, 

 " WasMngton, D. C, May 14, 1878. 



" On behalf of the Eegents of the Smithsonian Institution, it becomes 

 my mournful duty to announce the death of the Secretary and Director 

 of the Institution, Joseph Henry, LL. D., which occurred in this city on 

 Monday, May 13, at 12.10 o'clock p. m. 



" Professor Henry was born in Albany, in the State of New York, De- 

 cember 17, 1799. He became professor of mathematics in the Albany 

 Academy in 1826 ; professor of natural philosophy in the College of 

 i^ew Jersey, at Princeton, in 1832, and was elected the first Secretary 

 and Director of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846, 



" He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Union Col- 

 lege in 1829, and from Harvard University in 1851. 



" He was president of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science in 1849; was chosen x>resident of the United States National 

 Academy of Sciences in 1808 ; president of the Philosophical Society 

 of Washington in 1871, and Chairman of the Light-House Board of the 

 United States in the same year; the last three positions he continued 

 to fill until his death. 



" Professor Henry made contributions to science in electricity, electro- 

 magnetism, meteorology, capillarity, acoustics, and in other branches of 

 physics ; he published valuable memoirs in the transactions of various 

 learned societies of which he was a member, and devoted thirty-two 

 years of his life to making the Smithsonian Institution what its founder 

 intended it to be, an efficient instrument for the " increase and diffusion 

 of knowledge among men." 



" M. E. WAITE, 

 "Chancellor oftlie Smithsonian Institution. 



