Evening star., 1924-04-30
MEDALS PRESENTED
FOR SCIENTIFIC WORK
National Academy Awards Made
to American and Foreign Ex-
perts in Several Lines.
ADJOURN FOR FOX FUNERAL
Man Lived on Coast Thousands of
Years Ago, Says Merriam.

In the presence OF scientists from;
all sections of the United States. the
National Academy of Sciences today
awarded six medals for distinguished
service to the cause of science
The ceremonies were held in the
lecture room of the new building OF
the academy, at 21st and 3 streets,
at 1916 o'clock this afternoon. with
DR.. A A. Nicholson, president, of the
academy, presiding. .<
The awards were as follows:
The Agassiz medal (oceanoga aphy}
to Otto Sven Peterson of Sweden.
The Henry Draper medal to Ar
!hur S. Eddington OF England
Honor swedish Scientist.
The Watson medal (astrouomicai
science) to C. V. l. Charlier of Swe-
den.
The Daniel Giraud Elliot medals.
For 1921, TO Bashford Dean Of Colun-
bia University; 1922, William Morton
Wheeler of Harvard University, and
for 1923, to Ferdinand Canu OF Ne-~
sailles France.
Owing to tho death yesterday OF
DR.. L. +. Nichols while reading 4
paper before the academy, the presen-
tation Of the medals today was in the
form of u simple ceremony, the mem
bers of the academy later going 10 the
funeral services for the noted
scientist whose untimely death threw
gloom over the sessions of the ar
nual meeting.
No Foreign Recipients Here.
The foreign recipients were NOT in
this country. Besides the Agassiz and
Watson medals. awarded for the work
named, the Draper medal was given
for work in astronomical physics, and
the Elliot medals for work in 70
ology and palaentology. The formal
presentation OF the medals was 10
have been made at the annual din
ner of the academy last night, but
this was called off as a mark of re
spect to the memory of DR.. Nchols.
All sessions Of the academy yes
terday afternoon were called off, fol-
lowing DR.. Nichols collapse just before
noon. The services this afternoon
were TO be held at o'clock at St
Johns Episcopal Church.
The pallbearers are: DR.. George L
Hale of Mount Wilson Observatory.
DR.. William Duane of Harvard Uni
versity. Dr. NJ. I. Pupin of Columbia
| University. Prof. David Fairchild OF
the Department of Agriculture, Dr..
Ernest Merritt of Cornell University
and DR.. &C. G. Abbot of the Smith
sonian INSTITUTION. The body will b~
cremated tomorrow.
Man Here Cycles Ago.
! Man probably existed on the Pacilic
coast of this country many thousand
| of years ago, DR.. John c. Merriam OF
the Carnegie Institution told the ses-
! sion of the academy held last might
| Dr. Chester Stock of the University
Of California told of the discovery oE
ancient human remains in Los
Angeles.
| DR.. Merriam concluded:
after practically twenty-five years
| investigation of the antiquity of man
| in California from the point of view
of the archeologist and anthropolo-
gist, the paleontologist and geolo-
gist, it is clear that the problem is
not only extraordinarily interesting, but
is exceedingly complicated.
There are many evidences in caves.
in alluvium and stream deposits, in
the she'll mounds and in the asphalt
deposits, indicating the occurrence
of man on the Pacific coast flor q
period which must in all probability
be measured in terms of many thou
sands of years. Up to the present
time all of the human remains dis
covered are of the modern type.
Real American Indians.
so far as has been determined
they do not differ materially in their
characteristics from the various races
included within the group of the
American Indians of today. The i'm
pIemeuts and other evidences OF
mans handiwork are also in genera!
of modern appearance and different
from the more ancient types known
from the Pleistocene deposits of Eu
rope.
up to the present time no definite
evidence has been secured in Calf
fornia of the occurrence of human re-
mains In a geological forma tion older
TNU1