THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 73 



He has shown how to count these elements in any small elec- 

 trical charge; he has rendered them almost tangible by showing 

 in the clearest manner their visible effects, he has determined 

 with superior precision the fundamental constant represented 

 in the electrical charge of these atoms; he has demonstrated the 

 equality in electrical charge of the positive and the negative ions 

 in ionized gases, and he has made important additions to our 

 knowledge of the molecular constitution and the kinetic phe- 

 nomena of gases. 



For these contributions to knowledge and for the original and 

 refined methods of research he has developed and so successfully 

 applied, the Academy honors him with this first recognition of 

 superior merit as provided by the founder of the Comstock fund. 



President Wilson: Professor Millikan, in presenting this, 

 may I not express my gratification that you have brought us 

 out of the adumbrations of Lucretius into modern life, and say 

 that I envy you the practice of a science so incalculable and 

 exact? (Applause.) 



Whereupon at the conclusion of the above ceremony, the 

 President escorted his guests into an adjoining room to partake 

 of refreshments. 



