24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



gratulations of the Smithsonian Institution, which is specially in- 

 terested in the citj'^ of xVlbany, for it was there that Joseph Henry, 

 first secretary of the institution, was born in the year 1799, and 

 tliere HeniT began his researches and experiments in electricity 

 which in great measure made possible the wonderful electrical 

 achievements of the present day. " He married the intensity magnet 

 to the intensit}'^ battery, the quantity magnet to the quantity battery, 

 discovered the law by which their union Avas effected, and rendered 

 their divorce impossible." The intensity magnet is that which is 

 to-day in use in every telegraph system. " Henry's oscillating ma- 

 chine Avas the forerunner of all our modern electrical motors. The 

 rotary motor of to-day is the direct outgrowth of his improvements 

 in magnets.'' 



Natiomil Academy of Sciences. — The semicentennial meeting of 

 the National Academy of Sciences was held at the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution April 22 to 24, 1913. The exercises included an address of 

 welcome by Dr. Ira Remsen, president of the academy, and addresses 

 on '* The Relation of Science to the Higher Education in America," 

 by President Arthur T. Hadley, of Yale University ; " International 

 Cooperation in Research," by Dr. Arthur Schuster, of London; " The 

 Earth and Sun as Magnets," by Dr. George E. Hale, of the Mount 

 Wilson Solar Observatoiy ; and " The Structure of the Universe," 

 by J. C. Kapteyn, of Groningen. At the White House, Presidelit 

 Woodrow Wilson and Dr. R. S. WoodAvard participated in the cere- 

 mony of the presentation of medals awarded by the academy. The 

 Watson medal was awarded to Prof. J. C. Kapteyn, the Draper 

 medal to M. Henri Deslandres, the Agassiz medal to Dr. Johan Hjort, 

 and the Comstock prize to Prof. R. A. Millikan. There were vari- 

 ous social functions in connection with the meeting, including an 

 evening reception in the natural history building of the National 

 Museum. On the occasion of the meeting of the academy there Avas 

 published "A History of the First Half Century of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, 1869-1913," prepared and edited by Dr. Fred- 

 erick W. True, assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Imperial Russian Museum. — On the occasion of the fiftieth jubilee 

 of the Imperial Moscow and Rumiantsef Museum your secretary 

 was elected an honorary member cA that institution. 



(JEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL BUILDING. 



In tile public buildings bill approved by the President on March 4, 

 1913, permission Avas granted to the George Washington Memorial 

 Association to erect a building on the square formerly occupied by 

 the Pennsylvania railway station in Washington. The preamble of 

 the original bill (S. 5494), as passed by the Senate April 15, 1912, 

 defined the objects of the Memorial Building as foUoAvs : 



