PRIZE QUESTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 427 



ject; tliey must be exact and decisive; and may relate to man, to the 

 inferior animals, or to both. 



EXTRACT FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF SCIENCE, 

 AT HARLEM, FOR THE YEAR 1858. 



The society held its 106th annual session on the 22d of May, 1858. 

 Since its last session it had received — 



1. A memoir, written in Dutch, bearing the epigraph from Cicero 

 de Divin, Observatio diuturna notandis rebus fecit artem, Daily ohserva- 

 Uon creates the art of comjyrehending and describing things, and having 

 for its subject the following question: 



"It is known that the best Peruvian barks, namely, those which 

 yield the greatest amount of quinine, are so rapidly diminishing as 

 to give reason to fear that they will be altogether exhausted. It is 

 of urgent necessity, therefore, to examine other barks considered 

 febrifuges, containing little or no quinine, but much cinchonine, and 

 to ascertain to what extent the latter base is fitted to replace the 

 former. The society, therefore, requests therapeutic studies to be 

 made of cinchonine and its compouwds." 



In 1857 the society determined that this memoir could not be 

 crowned, but should be passed over to the competition of 1858, in 

 order that the secretary might have an opportunity to make the 

 author aware of what was wanting in his work, and thus enable him 

 to perfect it and present it anew. 



The society decided that the memoir, thus revised and completed 

 by the author, deserved to be crowned. The author of the memoir 

 thus accepted is P. J. Hollman, M. D., surgeon, &c., of Edam, North 

 Holhmd. 



The society received — 



2. A written memoir, having for its epigraph the following sen- 

 tence from Berzelius' Treatise on Chemistry, vol. v: "The mysteri- 

 ous action which we attribute to a peculiar force, but probably of an 

 electric nature, and what we call catalytic force." 



The society awarded the gold medal to the author of this memoir, 

 Dr. T. L. Phipson, of Paris. 

 The society received — 



3. A memoir, written in French, and sent from Toula, in Rus- 

 sia, and entitled "An attempt to investigate the cause of luminous 

 and calorific phenomena, exhibited by the electric current in a 

 vacuum containing alcoholic vapor." 



4. A memoir, written in French, and sent from Montpelier, "On 

 the former existence of perforating molluscs, especially the tubicolate- 

 conchifera molluscs of Lamarck." 



5. A memoir, received from Paris, written in French, and enti- 

 tled "A memoir on experiments tending to show the resistance of 

 compressed air moving within pipes." The society decided that me- 

 moirs 3, 4, and 5 include many important observations, but do not 



