936 



SCIENCE., 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 599. 



life and wliicli he soon abandoned for other 

 and, as it seemed to him, more practical 

 things. We need not, however, be aston- 

 ished -that he left his impress upon the 

 science of his time. A man who in the 

 middle of the eighteenth century rejected 

 the doctrine of action at a distance and in- 

 sisted upon the necessity of a universal 

 medium pervading all space, and who, at 

 the very zenith of Newton's fame, repu- 

 diated the corpuscular theory and thought 

 of light as transmitted by a vibratory mo- 

 tion, must be recognized as possessing a 

 native endowment unequaled by any of 

 the intellects of his day. 



The Modern Theories of Electricity and 

 their Relation to the FrankUnian 

 Theory: Professor Ernest Rutherford, 

 F.R.S., of Montreal. 



Of the four days' celebration, one morn- 

 ing, that of Thursday, April 19, was given 

 over to the University of Pennsylvania. 

 It devoted that time to making the celebra- 

 tion memorable by the bestowing of hon- 

 orary degTces upon distinguished men, 

 Europeans as well as Americans. Dr. 

 Hampton L. Carson, '71 C, '74 L., '06 

 LL.D., attorney-general of the common- 

 wealth of Pennsylvania, made the oration 

 of the day. After the academic procession 

 had entered, the prayer was read by Rev. 

 Dr. Alexander Mackay-Smith, Episcopal 

 Bishop-Coadjutor of the Diocese of Penn- 

 sylvania. 'Alma Mater' was then sung, 

 and the class of 1906 college presented a 

 memorial tablet to Franklin, which will 

 be placed on the walls of the Houston Club. 

 It was presented through A. R. Ludlow, 

 president of the class, and received by 

 Vice-provost Edgar F. Smith, '99 Sc.D., 

 '06 LL.D., in behalf of the university and 

 the Houston Club. 'Ben Franklin' was 

 sung, and then the honorary degrees were 

 conferred. Provost Charles Custis Har- 

 rison, '62 C, made the presentation ora- 



tions, and bestowed the degrees, Dr. Whar- 

 ton Sinkler, '68 M., announcing the names 

 of the recipients and escorting them, with 

 Samuel F. Houston, '87 C, Joseph B. 

 Townsend, Jr., '82 C, and George H. 

 Frazier, '87 C, all of the board of trustees, 

 as aides, to the provost. Viee-provost 

 Smith was the first to receive his degree, 

 doctor of laws. The provost's presentations 

 of the degrees, with the degrees received, 

 follow, in the order of presentation: 



Edqae F. Smith — President of the American 

 Pliilosophioal Society. Worthy successor of 

 Franklin, Rittenhouse, Jefferson, Bache. Eminent 

 chemisrt; distinguished for his original work upon 

 electrolysis. Vice-provost of the University of 

 Pennsylvania. Humane. Beloved of God and 

 men. — LL.D. 



William BEBBTMAisr Soott — Interpreter of 

 world changes. Historian of the rocks and of 

 past forms of life. Traveler over many lands, 

 without the aid of the physicist; at times, however, 

 using him, but not in accord with him. Lineal 

 descendant of Franklin, and agreeing with him 

 that sense is preferable to sound. Distinguished 

 professor of geology and paleontology at Princeton 

 University. — LL.D. 



Edwabd Chaeles Pickering — Professor of as- 

 tronomy and director of the Harvard College Ob- 

 servatory. ' It was on no earthly shore his soul 

 beheld the vision,' but with reverent observation 

 the stars in their courses have been, through him, 

 a light to us from pole to pole. Student of the 

 relation of stellar distance to the intensity of il- 

 lumination. Distinguished founder of the first 

 physical laboratory in America. — LL.D. 



Hugo de Vbies — King of the plant world. Fore- 

 most investigator. Research contributor to the 

 knowledge of the physiology, heredity and cross- 

 breeding of the vegetable kingdom. Distinguished 

 also for his publications and reputation over two 

 continents upon species variation. Professor of 

 plant anatomy and physiology at the University 

 of Amsterdam. — LL.D. 



Albert A. Michelson — Head professor of 

 physics in the University of Chicago. To be 

 to-day considered the foremost physicist in the 

 United States. Noted especially for his mathe- 

 matical and experimental contributions upon the 

 nature and properties of light. — LL.D. 



Ernest Rutherford — McDonald professor of 

 physics at McGill University, Montreal. First of 



