Pneietiings tf tht National tnfittuU if Ffantiy %«y 



Cit. Clouet, affbciate correfpondent at Ouzour, near Gien, «ranfmitted a mcmoijf to the 

 clafs, defcribing a method of converting iron into fteel witliout cementation. He makes 

 ufe of files, alumine, &c. 



Cit. Baume, likewife aflbciate correfpondent, read to the clafs a memoir on the material 

 of which artillery is made, and the caufe of the degree of heat they acquire after a few dif- 

 charges. He offers a new compofition lefs fufceptible of becoming heated. 



Cit. Gibert treated of fleece-bearing animals, or fheep, and the advantages which com- 

 merce may derive from their produce. Lamarck gave an account of the cuttle fifli j and 

 Cit. Cuvier, of the internal difpofition of the iAroat of birds, by means of which they uttct 

 founds more or lefs acute. Cit. Defeflarts was the author of an excellent memoir on the 

 fmall-pox, with a (hort account of Galvanifm. 



The clafs of mathematical and phyfical fclences had propofed as the fubjeft of a prize» 

 to be determined on the 15th Vendemiaire, in the year Vll, (0£lober 6, 1798) for which 

 the produ6lions of candidates were to be received until the firft of Germinal laft, (March 

 21, 1798) the following queftion : 



What are the ufes of the liver In the various clafles of animals ? 

 One memoir only has been received, which does not apply to the queftion. The clifs 

 has therefore thought proper to divide it, in order to facilitate the folution. In this iox^ 

 it becomes the objeiSi: of two prizes. The queftion for the firft prize is, 



To afcertain the form, fituation, magnitude, comparative weight, texture of the veflelsfc 

 communications, and appendices to the liver, confidcred in the principal clafles of .animals 

 from man to infects, mollufcae, and worms. 

 The obje£t of the fecond prize is, 



The analyfis of the hepatic or cyftic bile in the feveral clafles of animals here mentioned. 

 Memoirs will be received till the firft Nivofe, in the year VIII, (December 21, 1799) 

 and the prize will be afcertained on the 15th of Germinal following (April 4). The prize 

 for each queftion will be a medal of gold weighing one kilogramme (22966 grains, or 4702* 

 «7dwts. troy). The Inftitute has pubhflied a program, exhibiting the conditions to which 

 candidates muft conform. 



A prize was decreed. It was divided between two difl"erent works ; but in effect it proved 

 but one, becaufe the fame perfon was entitled to both.- In the year IV the clafs of mathe- 

 matical and phyfical fciences propofed the following object : 



To conftruft a pocket watch proper to determine the longitude at fca, by obferving fuch 

 divifions as indicate the decimal parts of the day, namely, tenths, thoufandths, and ten 

 thoufandths ; or the fyftem in which the day fliall be divided into ten hours, the hour into 

 one hundred minutes, and the minute into one hundred feconds. 



The Inftitute divided the prize between two watches, No. i, bearing the epigraph " Ma 

 *' liberte fait ma conftance ;" and No. 2. having the Infcription " Au tems qui inftruit." 

 Cit. Louis Berthout conftrudted both watches. His name was proclaimed amidft the ap» 

 plaufes of the afllftants. 



The clafs of moral and political fclences propofed the two folbwing queftions, one re- 

 lative to the fecial fcience, and the other to geography : 



What ought to be the extent and the limits of power in the father of a family In a weU^ 

 eonftitated republic ,' 



