ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 33 



not the prime mover, in the formation of the Academy, and 

 his deep interest in its work is indicated by the fact that he 

 bequeathed his estate to the Academy as a fund for the promotion 

 of researches in the natural and physical sciences. His original 

 intention was to place the fund under the control of a board, or, 

 in case the board failed to act, that the trustees of the estate 

 should apply the funds to the purposes specified, under the 

 direction of the American Philosophical Society. Soon after 

 the organization of the National Academy, however, on July 

 15, 1863, he added a codicil to his will which reads as follows: 

 " Item : My will is that, upon the death of my wife, all the rest and residue 

 of my estate * shall be paid over to and vest in the corporation of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, incorporated by act of Congress, passed the 3d day of 

 March, A. D. 1863, whom I hereby appoint trustees in the place of my said 

 executors under the fourth clause of my said will, to apply the income, according 

 to the directions in the said clause contained, to the prosecution of researches in 

 physical and natural science by assisting experimentalists and observers in such 

 manner and in such sums as shall be agreed upon by the board of direction in the 

 said clause named." " 



Mrs. Bache died in February, 1870, and in 1871 the treasurer, 

 Fairman Rogers, reported that the amount handed over to him 

 by the executors of the estate of Professor Bache was $40,515.07, 

 " together with an annual ground rent of $102, and some lands 

 in Missouri not now [then] available."" In 1879, this amount 

 was increased by $4650, on the death of Henry Wood Bache, a 

 nephew of Professor Bache, who was a beneficiary under the 

 will of Mrs. Bache." The income of the original fund 

 amounted in 1872 to about $2500. The first allotment for 

 scientific research was made in 1871 by the board having the 

 fund in charge, the chairman of which was Joseph Henry. 

 The amount of the grant was $500, and was the first of a series 

 made to Professor J. E. Hilgard in connection with the mag- 

 netic survey of the United States. 



^ The property excepted was a house in Washington, which he gave to his sister, but 

 with the provision that after her death and that of his wife it should also pass to the 

 Academy. 



"Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1867, p. 11. Sen. Misc. Doc. no. 106, 40th Congress, 2d Session. 



'°Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. i, p. 8i. 



^ Loc. cit., p. 156. 



