364 APPENDICES 
To have and to hold the same unto the said National Academy of Sciences, its successor 
or successors in trust and upon the following conditions, to wit: 
First. The Trustee shall keep said sum of Four hundred Dollars ($400.00), and said 
bonds, or the proceeds thereof and all additions thereto, as a separate fund, to be known as 
the “ Cyrus B. Comstock Fund.” 
Second. The Trustee shall have power at any time in its discretion to sell said bonds or 
any of them and execute a proper assignment thereof to the purchaser or purchasers, and 
shall invest the proceeds thereof and all moneys forming a part of said fund, and keep the 
same invested in such securities and in such manner as its constitution shall provide for the 
investment of its property or as shall be authorized by law for the investment of trust funds. 
Third. The Trustee shall collect the income arising from said fund and apply the same 
as follows: 
(1) The market value of the fund shall be maintained at not less than Ten thousand 
Dollars ($10,000), and any and all depreciation therein shall be made up out of the income 
of the fund before any part of such income shall be applied as hereinafter provided. But 
when, by the additions hereinafter authorized and directed, the principal of the fund shall 
have been increased in the amount of Five thousand Dollars ($5,000.), then and thereafter 
the market value of the fund shall be maintained in the manner aforesaid at not less than 
Fifteen thousand Dollars ($15,000.). 
(2) The balance of the income of said fund shall be set aside and accumulated, and 
out of such accumulations the Trustee shall award once for every five years a prize in 
money to the bona fide resident of North America, who, not less than one year nor more 
than six years before the awarding of the prize, shall have made in the judgment of the 
Trustee the most important discovery or investigation in electricity or magnetism or radiant 
energy. 
Such prize shall be known and designated as the “ Comstock Prize,’ and shall be in an 
amount equal to about two-thirds of said balance of the income of said fund for the five 
years for which the award shall be made, and shall be paid to the person to whom the 
prize shall have been awarded at such time as may be convenient to the Trustee, but the 
awarding thereof shall be entirely and in all respects in the discretion of the Trustee. If 
no such discovery or investigation shall be deemed by the Trustee to be worthy of the 
prize, or if for any other reason the prize shal] not be awarded for any period of five years, 
then and in that event the money which might have been awarded shall be added to the 
principal of the fund and become a part thereof; but the Trustee may in its discretion use 
the whole or any part of the amount unawarded for any five years in aiding such investi- 
gation or investigations as the Trustee shall deem worthy in electricity, magnetism or 
radiant energy to be made by a bona fide resident or residents of North America; Provided, 
however, that the prize shall not be diverted to give such aid oftener than once in fifteen 
years. 
(3) The balance of the income so accumulated, less the amount to be awarded as a 
prize, as provided in the preceding section, shall be added to the principal of the fund and 
become a part thereof and subject to the terms and conditions herein contained, as though 
such additions had been part of the original donation; Provided, however, that when the 
market value of said fund shall have been increased to Fifteen thousand Dollars ($15,000.), 
the amount of the prize may be increased in the discretion of the Trustee to more than two- 
thirds of the net income as above provided. 
Fourth. Upon the failure or inability of the Trustee, its successor or successors, to carry 
out the said trust upon the terms and conditions above set forth, said fund together with all 
accumulations and unexpended income shall revert to me, the said Cyrus B. Comstock, if 
then living; if dead, to my heirs-at-law who shall then be living, per stirpes and not 
per capita. 
