386 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



nomical society that meets once in two years. In 1874 he was 

 elected a corresponding member of the Institute of France and 

 on June 17, 1895, was chosen one of the eight foreign associate 

 members of the Academy of Science of the Institute of France, in 

 succession to the illustrious Helmholtz. This was the greatest 

 honor that came to him; for indeed there is none higher, and since 

 Franklin, Newcomb was the first native American to receive this 

 greatest of all scientific honors. 



In the United States his services to science likewise received 

 conspicuous recognition. In 1869 ne was elected a member of the 

 National Academy of Sciences which he served as vice-president 

 in 1883-89 and as foreign secretary in 1903-09. He was elected 

 to the American Philosophical Society in 1878, and was its senior 

 vice-president at the time of his death; and he was an associate 

 fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among 

 the societies to which he was chosen president are the following: 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science (1876), 

 Society for Psychical Research (1885), Political Economy Club of 

 America (1887), American Mathematical Society (1896), and 

 Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America (1899). In 

 his own home city he had been elected president of the Philosophi- 

 cal Society of Washington in 1879 and 1880, and again in 1909; 

 and in 1907 of the Cosmos Club. 



With wise judgment Newcomb in his will bequeathed to the 

 United States for deposit and public exhibition in the National 

 Museum, his foreign decorations, medals, prizes from scientific 

 bodies, diplomas and certificates from universities and learned 

 societies, so that for all time, they might testify to the recognition 

 his genius had gained for him. Merit is quickly appreciated in 

 this great republic of ours, and to none does it yield its rewards 

 more readily than to those who follow science. Eloquent indeed 

 are these silent evidences of recognition, for they will ever show 

 that even the humblest may aspire to the greatest honors, if only 

 he prove himself worthy. 



Happy also was Newcomb in his home life. In 1863 he married 

 Mary Caroline Hassler, daughter of Dr. Charles A. Hassler of 



