him the communication, description, or model, except the officer to 

 wliom it shall be entrusted ; nor sliall such officer part with the same 

 out of his custody, without a special order of the Society for that pur- 

 pose. 



6. The Society, having previously referred the several communica- 

 ticJis from candidates for the premium, then depending, to the consid- 

 eration of the twelve counsellors and other officers of the Society, and 

 having received their report thereon, shall, at one of their stated meet^ 

 ings in the month of December, annually, after the expiration of this 

 current year (of the time and place, together with the particular occa- 

 sion of which meeting due notice shall be previously given, by public 

 advertisement) proceed to final adjudication of the said premium ; and, 

 after due consideration had, a vote shall first betaken on this question, 

 viz. : AYhether any of the communications then under inspection be 

 worthy of the proposed premium ? If this question be determined in 

 the negative, the whole business shall be deferred till another year; 

 but if in the affirmative, the Society shall proceed to determine by 

 ballot, given by the members at large, the discovery, invention or im- 

 provement most useful and worthy ; and that discovery, invention, or 

 improvement which shall be found to have a majority of concurring 

 votes in its favor shall be successful; and then, and not till then, the 

 sealed letter accompanying the crowned performance shall be opened, 

 and the name of the author announced as the person entitled to tht 

 said premium. 



7. No member of the Society who is a candidate for the premiuoL 

 then depending, or who hath not previously declared to the Society, 

 that he has considered and weighed, according to the best of his judg- 

 ment, the comparative merits of the several claims then under consid- 

 eration, shall sit in judgment, or give his vote in awarding the said pre- 

 mium. 



8. A full account of the crowned subject shall be published by the So- 

 ciety, as soon as may be after the adjudication, either in a separate pub- 

 lication, or in the next succeeding volume of their Transactions, or iu 

 both. 



9. The unsuccessful performances shall remain under consideration, 

 and their authors be considered as candidates for the premium for five 

 years next succeeding the time of their presentment ; except such per- 

 formances as their authors may, in the meantime, think fit to withdraw. 

 And the Society shall annually publish an abstract of the titles, object, 

 or subject matter of the communications, so under consideration ; such 

 only excepted as the Society shall think not worthy of public notice. 



10. The letters containing the names of authors whose performances 

 shall be rejected, or which shall be found unsuccessful after a trial of 

 five years, shall be burnt before the Society , without breaking the seals. 



jl. In case there should be a failure, in any year, of any communi- 

 cation worthy of the proposed premium, there will then be two pr«- 

 miums to be awarded the next year. But no accumulation of premiums 



