69 



tive, the Society shall proceed to determine by ballot, given 

 by the members at large, the discovery, invention, or improve- 

 ment 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 an- 

 nounced as the person entitled to the said premium. 



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

 premium then depending, or who hath not previously de- 

 clared to the Society that he has considered and weighed 

 according to the best of his judgment, the comparative merits 

 of the several claims then under consideration, shall sit in 

 judgment, or give his vote in awarding the said premium. 



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

 by the Society as soon as may be after the adjudication, either 

 in a separate publication, or in the next succeeding volume of 

 their Transactions, or in both. 



9. The unsuccessful performances shall remain under con- 

 sideration, and their authors be considered as candidates for 

 the premium for five years next succeeding the time of their 

 presentment ; except such performances as their authors may, 

 in the meantime, think fit to withdraw. And the Society 

 shall annually publish an abstract of the titles, object, or sub- 

 ject-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 per- 

 formances shall be rejected, or which shall be found unsuccess- 

 ful after a trial of five years, shall be burnt before the Society 

 without breaking the seals. 



11. In case there should be a failure, in any year, of any 

 communication worthy of the proposed premium, there will 

 then be two premiums to be awarded the next year. But no 

 accumulation of premiums shall entitle the author to more 

 than one premium for any one discovery, invention, or im- 

 provement. 



