302 
REPORT OF THE ANNUAL MEETING 
that the two remaining members of the committee chose Arthur G. Webster 
as the third member and that Edwin B. Frost was elected chairman. This 
report contained also an announcement of the research grants made from the 
Bache Fund during the year ending April 17, 1916; and it stated that on April 
7, 1916, the Bache Fund had on hand a cash income balance of $980.62, and 
an invested income of $2575. 
A report was received from the Trustees of the Watson Fund, signed by 
Edward C. Pickering (chairman) and W. L. Elkin. In the report the trustees 
recommended that the sum of $500 from the income of the Watson Fund be 
appropriated to Professor John A. Miller, Director of the Sproul Observatory, 
for measuring plates already taken for the determination of stellar parallaxes. 
This is a continuation of a grant awarded last year. It was recommended 
that the sum of $300 from the income of the Watson Fund be appropriated to 
Professor Herbert C. Wilson, Director of the Goodsell Observatory, for meas- 
urements of the positions of asteroids on photographs already taken. These 
recommendations were adopted by the Academy. 
A report was received from the Committee on the Henry Draper Fund, 
signed by George E. Hale (chairman) as follows: 
Four members of the committee, without consulting the fifth member (Professor Michel- 
son), recommend that the Henry Draper Gold Medal be awarded to Albert A. Michelson, 
of the University of Chicago, for his numerous and important contributions to spectroscopy 
and astronomical physics. 
It is impossible in the brief space of this report even to enumerate Professor Michelson's 
major services to science. These include the precise determination of the velocity of light; 
the well-known experiment (with Professor Morley) on ether drift; the measurement of the 
absolute wave-length of light involved in his determination of the length of the standard 
meter; the measurement of tides in the body of the earth with new apparatus of extraordi- 
nary precision; and the invention of the interferometer, the echelon, and other instruments 
of prime importance to the student of light. He has also constructed a ruHng machine yield- 
ing diffraction gratings of the longest size and the highest resolving power yet attained, and 
carried on a multiplicity of researches of wide range and fundamental significance. 
The committee also recommends that a grant of $250 be made to Professor Philip Fox, 
Director of the Dearborn Observatory, of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, to 
apply toward the cost of a machine for measuring astronomical photographs. 
The recommendations contained in the report were adopted by the Academy. 
A report was received from the Committee on the J. Lawrence Smith Fund, 
signed by Edward W. Morley (chairman). A brief account was given of the 
researches aided by previous grants. The Committee reported a cash bal- 
ance of income of $834.77, of which $250 is already appropriated, though not 
yet paid over. There is also an invested income balance of $1532.50. The 
Committee unanimously recommended that a further grant of $300 be made 
to S. A. Mitchell, professor in the University of Virginia, University, Va., to 
aid in securing observations of paths and of radiants of meteors and in com- 
puting orbits where observations are sufficient. This recommendation was 
adopted by the Academy. 
