8 2 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



spectroscopic astronomy, and the Watson Medal to Sir David 

 Gill, Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 " for his work in perfecting the application of the heliometer to 

 astronomical measurements, which has resulted in an important 

 advance in astronomy of precision, especially in the determina- 

 tion of parallaxes of the sun and stars and of the position of the 

 planets." 8B 



The fourth President of the Academy, Professor O. C. Marsh 

 died on March 18, 1899. He had been Acting President in 1878 

 and 1882, and President from 1883 to 1895. He bequeathed 

 to the Academy the sum of $10,000 " for promoting original 

 research in the natural sciences." 86 



The time having arrived once more in 1900 for an award of 

 the Barnard Medal, the committee appointed by the Academy 

 unanimously recommended Professor Rontgen for that honor, 

 in the following letter: 



" The committee appointed to select one or more names of persons who are 

 best entitled to receive the Barnard medal from Columbia University respect- 

 fully report that, after careful consideration of the subject, the name of Prof. 

 Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen is presented as being that of the person who has within 

 the five years beginning July 17, 1894, rnade the discovery which is most worthy 

 of this honor, under the terms of the will of President Barnard. 



" Professor Rontgen announced his discovery of what he called the X-rays, now 

 commonly known as Rontgen rays, in December, 1895. These rays exhibit many 

 peculiar properties, and have been applied to various practical uses, the most 

 important of which thus far have been in surgery. They are at the present time one 

 of the most interesting and important subjects of research in physical science, and 

 the discovery may be properly termed an epoch-making one." 87 



In the ensuing year the Henry Draper Medal was awarded 

 to Sir William Huggins for his investigations in astronomical 

 physics. The report of the committee, though somewhat long 

 for quotation in this connection, is so very interesting that it 

 seems desirable that it should be given in full. It is as follows: 



" It is not an easy matter to concentrate into a few pages the results attained by 

 an active worker during a period of nearly half a century. Fortunately, in the 



85 Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1899, p. 10. 

 99 See Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1910, p. 15. 

 w Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1900, p. n. 



