42 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



1873-1877 



In 1872 the Academy lost another of its original members, 

 John F. Frazer, and in 1873 three more, Louis Agassiz (who 

 was one of the most prominent leaders in the establishment of the 

 Academy, and who held the office of Foreign Secretary for 

 eleven years), Joseph Saxton and John Torrey. The latter year 

 seems to have been otherwise uneventful. 



Following its policy of promoting astronomical science, a com- 

 mittee was appointed in 1873 " to take into consideration the 

 need of more Accurate Investigation, and Tables of the Celestial 

 Movements, and to devise such measures as may seem best 

 adapted to improve the Accuracy of Astronomical Tables." 



Joseph Henry this year expressed his intention of resigning 

 the presidency, which he had held for six years, the term fixed 

 by the constitution. A letter " numerously signed by members 

 of the Academy " was, however, presented at the first session of 

 1874, and Henry thereupon decided to withhold his resignation, 

 and continue to serve as President, which he did until his death 

 in 1878. 



The interest felt by the members of the Academy in the 

 metric system of weights and measures was newly manifested 

 in 1875. As is well-known, an international conference on new 

 metric standards was held in Paris in 1870, but its deliberations 

 were interrupted by the opening of the Franco-Prussian War. 

 It convened again in 1872 and soon afterward the proposition 

 was advanced that an international bureau of weights and 

 measures be established. At the April meeting of 1875 the 

 Academy passed resolutions soliciting the President of the 



same resolution, on motion of General Meigs, in slightly different form, thus: "Resolved, 

 That the President and Council of the National Academy be requested to prepare and 

 present to Congress in the name of the Academy a memorial advising that the course of 

 Experiments upon American Coals, made under direction of Congress by the Navy Depart- 

 ment and reported in Johnson's Report on American Coals, be resumed and continued so as 

 to include all the coals now used in the United States in sufficient quantities to be of value 

 in the arts, and in manufactures, and in commerce." (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. i, pp. 115, 

 116.) 



The records of the Academy do not contain any information as to the reasons which 

 prompted this action, or the results which followed from it. 



