THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE 



NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, 



Tuesday, April 22, 1 913. 



MORNING SESSION 



The opening session was called to order by the President of 

 the Academy, at 1 1 : 00 o'clock a. m. 



WELCOME BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE 

 ACADEMY 



President Remsen: As presiding officer of the Academy 

 for the time being, it is my duty to express our gratification at 

 the coming together of our guests and to extend to you a welcome. 



We have come together especially to take note of the fact that 

 fifty years ago a number of prominent workers in the field of 

 science founded the National Academy of Sciences, receiving 

 a charter from the United States Government. It would be in- 

 teresting and instructive to call the roll of the founders and learn 

 who they were, but it will suffice to refer to some of the most 

 eminent or most conspicuous among these, or perhaps it would 

 be better to say some of those whose names are most familiar to 

 the present generation. 



High up on this honor list are Louis Agassiz, James D. Dana, 

 Wolcott Gibbs, B. A. Gould, Asa Gray, A. Guyot, Joseph 

 Henry, J. Leidy, J. P. Lesley, Benjamin Peirce, R. E. Rogers, 

 W. B. Rogers, L. M. Rutherfurd, Benjamin Silliman, Jeffries 

 Wyman and J. D. Whitney. 



