NATIONAL ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 



577 



of the Century Dictionary, also author of many text- 

 books. 



*Winlpck, Joseph, original member, astronomer, Pro- 

 fessor of Astronomy and Director ot the Observatory of 

 Harvard University and consulting astronomer to the 

 United States Coast Survey. 



Wood, Horatio 0, elected in 1879, physician, Clinical 

 Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System at the 

 medical department of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, and -one of the editors of the "United States 

 Dispensary." 



*Woodward, Joseph Janvier, elected in 1873, surgeon, 

 on duty at the Surgeon-General's office in Washing- 

 ton, and charged with collecting materials for a med- 

 ical history of the civil war and for a military medical 

 museum, also attending surgeon on President Gar- 

 field. 



*Worthen, Amps Henry, elected in 1872, geologist, State 

 Geologist of Illinois, and in charge of the State Mu- 

 seum. 



Wright, Arthur Williams, elected in 1881, physicist, 

 Professor of Experimental Physics at Yale University, 

 and in charge ot the Sloane Physical Laboratory there. 



*Wyman, Jeffries, original member, comparative an- 

 atomist, Curator of Peabody Museum of American 

 Ethnology and Archaeology of Harvard University, 

 Cambridge, and long President of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History. 



Young, Charles Augustus, astronomer, Professor of 

 Astronomy at Princeton College, and author of " The 

 Sun" and several astronomical text- books. 



Thus the total membership has included 168 

 persons, of which 2 never accepted their election, 

 2 have resigned, 66 are deceased, 3 are on the 

 honorary list, and 99 are active members ; also 

 there have been 47 foreign associates, of whom 22 

 have died. 



Meetings. Among the important provisions 

 of the constitution was that the academy should 

 hold one stated session in each year in the city 

 of Washington, on the third Tuesday in April, 

 and that another be held at such place and time 

 as the council may direct. The latter, known as 

 the scientific session, was at first called in Au- 

 gust, but is now usually held in November. It 

 has been convened in New Haven, Conn., North- 

 ampton, Mass., Hartford, Conn., Cambridge, 

 Mass., New York, N. Y.. Philadelphia, Pa., New- 

 port. R. I., and Albany, N. Y. 



Committees. The constitution further gives 

 power to the presiding officer to appoint all com- 

 mittees, which are of three kinds : Those of the 

 Academy, such as " On Ways and Means to pro- 

 vide a Fund for the Academy"; "On Weights, 

 Measures, and Coinage"; "On the Election of 

 Foreign Associates " ; and " On Reserving Pub- 

 lic Lands on and near Mount Whitney, Cal., for 

 Scientific Purposes " ; which are standing, or re- 

 main in force until the purpose for which they 

 were appointed has been accomplished. Those 

 designated as Government committees that are 

 chosen to report on questions referred to the 

 Academy by the Government and include, since 

 1886: "On the Astronomical Day. Eclipse of 

 1886, and New Observatory"; "On the Tariff 

 Classification of Wool " ; " On Opium " ; and " On 

 Sugar Determinations." Finally a series of com- 

 mittees on the various trust funds and medals in 

 possession of the Academy. 



Reports. About fifty official reports on ques- 

 tions that called for special scientific advice have 

 been made to the Government since 1864, and 

 among them are : " On the Protection of the 

 Bottoms of Iron Vessels " (1864) ; " On the Use 

 VOL. xxx. 37 A 



of Aluminum Bronze for Cent Coinage " (1864) 

 " On Testing the Purity of Whisky " (1865) ; " On 

 the Preservation of Paint on Army Knapsacks " 

 (1866); "On Removal of ink from Revenue 

 Stamps " (1870) ; " On Silk Culture in the United 

 States" (1870); "On Water-proofing of the 

 Fractional Currency" (1876); "On Demerara 

 Sugars" (1878); "On the Preservation of the 

 Writing of the Original Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence " (1879) ; " On Sorghum Sugar " (1882) ; 

 " On the Separation of Methyl from Alcohol " 

 (1883): "On Glucose" (1883); and "On Cus- 

 toms Duty on Philosophical and Scientific Ap- 

 paratus " (1885). 



Funds. There has been received by bequest 

 to the Academy the property of Alexander D. 

 Bache in trust, the income to be devoted to the 

 prosecution of research in physical and natural 

 science by assisting experimenters and observers, 

 and the publication of the results of their inves- 

 tigations. From this fund there is derived an 

 annual income of $2,500, a portion of which was 

 devoted to a magnetic survey of the United 

 States under the direction of a committee of the 

 Academy and continued until 1880, and its re- 

 sults published in the report of the United States 

 Coast Survey for 1882. Among other researches 

 that it has furthered were those " On the Veloci- 

 ty of Light," conducted by Simon Newcomb ; " On 

 Complex Inorganic Acids," by Wolcott Gibbs ; 

 and " Investigations on the Sun," by Samuel 

 P. Langley. In 1878 a sum of $40,000 was left 

 to the Academy by Joseph Henry, the income of 

 which goes to the 'daughters of Prof. Henry dur- 

 ing their lifetime. There was received from the 

 estate of James C. Watson an amount equivalent 

 to nearly $14,000, from the interest of which a 

 medal is to be prepared to be awarded to the 

 person in any country who shall make any as- 

 tronomical discovery or produce any astronomi- 

 cal work worthy of special reward and contribut- 

 ing to the progress of astronomy. There have 

 been appropriations from this fund of various 

 sums, including $300 in 1883 for the total solar 

 eclipse of May 6 of that year ; also it was recom- 

 mended that $500 be annually set aside for work 

 on tables of the small planets discovered by Prof. 

 Watson, as expressly desired by him in his be- 

 quest to the Academy ; and in 1887 the sum of 

 $100 in gold from this fund was presented to 

 Dr. Benjamin A. Gould, for his valuable labors 

 for nearly forty years in promoting the progress 

 of astronomical science. In 1889 this medal was 

 awarded to Dr. Edward Schoenfeld, of the Uni- 

 versity of Bonn, and was* accepted in his name 

 by Dr. Wolcott Gibbs. The circumstance which 

 led to the award of the medal was the comple- 

 tion of the " Durchmusterung," or a great star 

 catalogue begun forty years ago by Argelander. 

 The magnitude of the task of preparing this cata- 

 logue will be appreciated when it is understood 

 that it includes every star in the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and every star in the southern hemi- 

 sphere above 30' declination from the tenth 

 magnitude upward the number of stars in the 

 northern hemisphere being about 300,000, and in 

 the southern hemisphere nearly 150,000. In 1882, 

 on the death of Henry Draper, his widow present- 

 ed to the Academy $6,000 for the establishment 

 of a gold medal, to be awarded every two years 

 to the individual, in this or any country, who 



