Apkil 27, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



323 



FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1883. 



NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The annual meeting of this body was held 

 in Washington during the last week, with an 

 attendance of forty members. Scientific ses- 

 sions were held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and 

 Fridaj', in the large lecture-room of the Na- 

 tional museum, and business sessions on every 

 day of the meeting. A list of the papers 

 read appears elsewhere in this issue. 



Twentj'-four foreign associates were elected, 

 as follows, — Astronomers : Professor Otto von 

 Struve of the imperial observatorj' at Pulkova, 

 Russia; Prof. J. C. Adams of Cambridge, 

 Eng. ; Prof. A. Auwers, director of the obser- 

 vatory at Berlin ; and Prof. Theo. von Oppol- 

 zer, director of the observatory at Vienna. 

 Mathematicians: Professor Arthur Cayley of 

 the university of Cambridge, Eng. ; Prof. J. 

 J. Sylvester of the Johns Hopkins university, 

 Baltimore ; and Prof. E. Bertrand of Paris. 

 Physicists : Prof. R. Clausius of the universitj' 

 of Bonn ; Baron H. von Helmholtz, professor 

 in the university of Berlin ; Professor Robert 

 Kirchoff of the university of- Berlin ; Prof. 

 G. G. Stokes of the university of Cambridge, 

 Eng. ; and Sir William Thomson, professor in 

 the university of Glasgow. Chemists: Prof. 

 J. B. Dumas, secretary of the academy of sci- 

 ences, Paris ; and Profs. M. Berthelot, Bous- 

 singault, Chevreul, and Wiirtz, all of Paris. 

 Geologist : Freiherr von Richthofen, professor 

 in the universitj' of Bonn, and president of the 

 German geographical society. Botanists: Sir 

 J. D. Hooker, director of the botanical gardens 

 at Kew, Eng. ; Prof. A. de Candolle of Geneva. 

 Biologists : L. Pasteur of Paris ; Prof. T. H. 

 Huxley of London ; Prof. R. von Virchow of 

 the university of Berlin ; A. von Kolliker, pro- 

 fessor of anatomj" in the universitj' of Wiirz- 

 burg. Professor Struve, one of the newly elect- 

 ed foreign associates, who is on a visit to this 

 countrj', was a regular attendant at the scien- 

 tific sessions of the academj', and read a paper. 

 In consequence of the death of Professor 

 W. B. Rogers, the pi'esident, it became ne- 

 cessary to elect his successor. On the 5rst 



No. 12.— 1883. 



ballot, Professor Wolcott Gibbs of Cambridge, 

 one of the founders of the academy, was 

 elected. He, however, firmly declined the 

 honor, from a feeling, as he said, that he could 

 not give the time necessary to the work. The 

 academy reluctantly acquiesced in the decision 

 of Professor Gibbs, and jDroceeded to a second 

 ballot, when Professor O. C. Marsh of New 

 Haven, the acting president, was elected by a 

 handsome niajoritj'. The newly elected pres- 

 ident will hold office for six j-ears. 



The first act of the new president was to 

 announce that he had received from Mrs. Mary 

 A. Draper, widow of Professor Henry Draper, 

 the sum of six thousand dollars, accompanied 

 by a deed of trust which fully specified the 

 objects she had in view. He called upon Pro- 

 fessor Barker to explain the nature of the trust 

 to the academy. Professor Barker first made 

 some appropriate remarks, recalling Professor 

 Draper's interest in the academy, and then 

 read the deed, the substance of which is as 

 follows : the income of the trust is to be used 

 "for the purpose of striking a gold medal, 

 which shall be called the ' Henry Draper medal,' 

 shall be of the value of two hundred dollars," 

 and shall be awarded from time to time, but not 

 oftener than once in two j^ears, as a premium, 

 to anj' person in the United States or elsewhere 

 who shall make an original investigation in 

 astronomical physics, the results of which shall 

 be deemed by the academy of sufficient impor- 

 tance and benefit to science to merit such rec- 

 ognition. If at any time the income of the 

 fund shall exceed the amount necessary for 

 the striking of the medal, the surplus may 

 be used in aid of investigations and work in 

 astronomical phj-sics, to be made and carried 

 on bj' a citizen of the United States. 



The president appointed Messrs. G. F. 

 Barker, W. Gibbs, S. Newcomb, A. W. 

 Wright, and C. A. Young, as a committee' to 

 have charge of the fund, to make rules to gov- 

 ern the award of the medal, and to suggest to 

 the academy for approval the names of those 

 who may be considered wortlij' of the award. 



The treasurer announced, that, in accordance 

 with the will of the late Professor James C. 



