ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 75 



Professor H. K. Vogel of Potsdam, Germany, and the fourth 

 Watson Medal to Dr. Seth C. Chandler for his researches on the 

 variation of latitude. The report of the trustees of the Watson 

 Fund, which is printed in full in the Annual Report for 1895, 

 contains the following paragraphs relative to the award to Dr. 

 Chandler: 



" On the recommendation of the board of trustees of the Watson fund the 

 Academy last year unanimously awarded the Watson medal to Seth C. Chandler, 

 of Cambridge, Mass., for his investigations relative to variable stars, for his dis- 

 covery of the period of variation of terrestrial latitudes, and for his researches on 

 the laws of that variation 



" Although not mentioned as forming any part of the grounds for the award of 

 this medal, Dr. Chandler's important labors for many years upon cometary orbits 

 are well known to astronomers 



" The trustees of the Watson fund feel that this brilliant series of investiga- 

 tions is preeminently deserving of the highest recognition which can be given by 

 the National Academy, and have therefore not hesitated in recommending the 

 award of the medal to Dr. Chandler." '^ 



It will be recalled that " the Barnard Medal for Meritorious 

 Services to Science" was established by President F. A. P. 

 Barnard of Columbia College (now Columbia University) 

 July 17, 1889, with the provision that it should be awarded every 

 five years after that date, by the trustees of Columbia College, 

 upon the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences. 

 The first award was made in 1895 to Lord Rayleigh " for his 

 brilliant discovery of argon, which illustrates so completely the 

 value of exact scientific methods in the investigation of the 

 physical properties of matter." " 



In the decade between 1884 and 1894 the Academy lost 

 twelve of the incorporators, or original members. President 

 F. A. P. Barnard of Columbia College (died in 1889), the as- 

 tronomer and educator who was the second Foreign Secretary of 

 the Academy and served in that capacity from 1874 to 1880; 

 Bartlett, the physicist (1893) ! ^he botanists, Engelmann (1884) 



"Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1895, pp. 24-29. 

 '^ Loc. cit., pp. 29, 30. 



