I/O SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vOL. 45 



After completing the examination of the papers submitted by the 

 contestants, the committee awarded the first prize, $10,000, to Lord 

 Rayleigh of London, and Professor WilUam Ramsay of University 

 College, London, for the discovery of argon, a new element in the 

 atmosphere. 



The second prize, $2,000, was not awarded, no contestant com- 

 plying strictly with the terms of the offer. 



The third prize, $1,000, was awarded to Doctor Henry de Varigny, 

 of Paris, for the best popular treatise on atmospheric air. 



Honorable mention was made of twenty-one papers, for three of 

 which a silver medal was awarded, and for six a bronze medal. 



The gold medal of the Hodgkins Foundation, announced at the 

 time of the competition as a future contingency, has been bestowed 

 twice: First, April 3, 1899, o" Professor James Dewar, F.R.S., 

 of the Royal Institution, London, " in recognition of indefatigable 

 researches, pursued for many years, which have been potent not only 

 in increasing and diffusing a more exact knowledge in regard to the 

 nature and properties of air, but have opened the way for the prac- 

 tical utilization of this knowledge in the advance of human welfare." 

 Second, October 28, 1902, to Professor J. J, Thomson, F.R.S., of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, England, " in recognition of investiga- 

 tions on the conductivity of gases, especially on the gases that com- 

 pose atmospheric air." (See plate l.) 



A Hodgkins medal in silver, with a copy in bronze, has been 

 presented to Pembroke College, University of Oxford, England, 

 from which James Smithson, the Founder of the Listitution, was 

 graduated. These medals are placed in the library of Pembroke, 

 forming an appropriate adjunct to the Smithsonian publications 

 which are transmitted regularly to this establishment. 



The prize memoirs, " Argon : A New Constituent in the Atmos- 

 phere," submitted in collaboration by Lord Rayleigh and Professor 

 William Ramsay, and " Air and Life," by Doctor Henry de Varigny, 

 as well as several other competitive papers, have been published by 

 the Institution. Papers prepared by investigators working under 

 grants from the Hodgkins Fund have also been issued, and others 

 are in course of publication. Among them the following may be 

 mentioned : " Composition of Expired Air, and its Effects upon 

 Animal Life," by Doctors J. S. Billings, S. Weir Mitchell, and D. H. 

 Bergey ; " Atmospheric Actinometry," by E. Duclaux ; " Atmosphere, 

 Life and Health," by F. A. R. Russell ; " Air of Towns," by J. B. 

 Cohen ; " Equipment and Work of an Aero-Physical Observatory," 

 by A. McAdie; "Animal Resistance to Disease," and "Organic 



