454 PRIZE QUESTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



times violates the fundamental laws of metre. The three odes, 

 which answer to the fourth, fifth, and sixth poems, so progressively 

 descend in the scale of elegant Latinity, perspicuity, and true poetic 

 fervor, that the second ode is more faulty than the first, and the third 

 than either. The seventh poem is throughout couched in language 

 less fitted to poetry than to^ prose, and even that not terse or good 

 Latin, and, in brief, has scarcely one redeeming merit. Finally, the 

 eighth poem is in the form, by no means commendable, of an acrostic; 

 and moreover, the author is so thoroughly unskilled in the elements 

 of metre, so completely a novice in the Latin language, that he 

 cannot even be fairly called a versifier. 



The academy, therefore, has decided that the prize can be 

 awarded to none of these poems, and that all the sealed notes con- 

 taining the names of the authors be burnt. 



The academy again invites competition on the part of foreigners as 

 well as residents for the HoeufFtian prize for the best Latin poem. 



The prize to be contended for is a gold medal of the value of 120 

 florins, and will be awarded to. the author of that Latin poem, if not 

 fewer than fifty verses, not translated from any other language, and 

 never published, which the judges appointed by the academy shall 

 pronounce to be worthy of the honor. 



Poems intended for this competition must be sent in prior to the 

 first of January, 1862, to H. J. Koenen, unsigned by the authors, 

 but accompanied by sealed notes containing their names. 



The result of the competition Avill be pronounced in public session 

 of the academy, to be held before the month of April, 1862. 



The poem to which the judges aw^ard the prize Avill be printed at 

 the charge of the Hoeufftian bequest. The sealed notes of the unsuc- 

 cessful competitors will be burned, and the poems returned to the 

 authors who claim them. 



I. DeWAL, 

 President of the Academical Senate. 



