OF ARTS AND SCIEN'CES. 327 



bodies for liglit aiul ln-at. in wliicli he o.stabli.slied mathematically tho 

 saiue facts, and announced them as new. 



Dr. Draper claims, and we believe with justice, to have been the 

 first to apply the daguerreotype process to taking portraits. 



Dr. Draper applied ruled glasses and specula to produce spectra 

 for the study of the chemical action of light. The employment of 

 ruled metallic specula for this [)urpose enabled him to avoid the ab- 

 sorbent action of glass and other transparent media, as well as to 

 establish the points of maximum and minimum intensity with reference 

 to portions of the spectrum defined by their wave lengths. He ob- 

 tained also the advantage of employing a normal spectrum in place of 

 one which is abnormally condensed at one end and expanded at the 

 other. 



We owe to him valuable and original researches on the nature 

 of the rays absorbed in the growth of plants in suidight. These re- 

 searches prove that the maximum action is produced by the yellow 

 rays, and they have been fully confirmed by more recent investiga- 

 tions. 



We owe to him, further, an elaborate discussion of the chemical 

 action of light, supported in a great measure by his own experiments, 

 and proving conclusively, and, as we believe, for the first time, that 

 rays of all wave lengths are capable of producing chemical changes, 

 and that too little account has hitherto been taken of the nature of the 

 substance in which the decomposition is produced. 



Finally, Dr. Draper has recently published researches on the dis- 

 tribution of heat in the spectrum, which are of the highest interest, and 

 which have largely contributed to the advancement of our knowledge 

 of the subject of radiant energy. 



And now, in the absence of Dr. Drajier, unable at this inclement 

 season to execute a fatiguing journey, it gives me pleasure to recognize 

 you, Mr. Quincy, as his worthy and competent representative. 



1 pray you, in receiving these two medals on his behalf, in accord- 

 ance with the terms of the original trust, to assure him, on the part of 

 the Academy, of the high satisfaction taken by all its Fellows in doing 

 honor to those Avho, like him, take a prominent rank in the advance of 

 science throughout the world. 



Mr. Qiiincy, on receiving the medals, said : — 



Mr. Puesident, — In the name and on the behalf of Dr. Draper I 

 have the honor to receive the Rumford Medals in gold and silver, 



