PRIZE QUESTIO^^^S OF SCIEXTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



In accordance with a request from Utrecht, we give the following 

 translation of the proceedings of several of the Holland societies, 

 relative to prize cjuestions proposed by these establishments for free 

 competition to the citizens of all nations. We regret that we have 

 not received a full set of these proceedings, but hope to present in a 

 future report the remainder of the series. — Sec. Sm. Inst. 



EXTRACT FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF SCIENCE 

 AT HARLEM, FOR THE YEAR 1856. 



The society held its 104th annual session on the 17th of May, 1856. 

 Since its last session it has received: 1st. A memoir, written in Ger- 

 man, and having the epigraph, "-Nee asjjera terrent." This memoir 

 was written as a reply to the following question: 



"A history is requested of the development of the Petromyzon finvi- 

 afilis, illustrated by the necessary figures, and compared with that of 

 other fishes, according to the researches of Yon Baer, Rathke, and 

 C. Vogt." 



This memoir does not, in fact, contain the history of the Petro- 

 myzon fiuviatilis^ but that of P. Planeri. However, this latter species 

 is so near akin to the other, that the memoir substantially answers the 

 purpose pi-oposed for it by the society, and the gold medal is therefore 

 awarded to the author, Dr. Max Sigmund Schultze, doctor of medi- 

 cine and philosophy, and professor extraordinary of anatomy in the 

 University of Halle. 



The society has received: 2dly. A memoir, written in German, 

 bearing the epigraph, ^^ Amicus Plafo, amicus Socrates, sed magis 

 arnica Veritas,^' and relative to the following question published by 

 the society: 



"The illustrious director of the University of Pulkowa, the As- 

 tronomer P. G. W. Struve, published in 1847 his well-known book, 

 entitled "Studies in Stellar Astronomy." In that work he com- 

 municates, as the result of his observations, some very remarkable 

 details concerning the structure of the universe and the transparency 

 of space. The London Astronomical Society, in its report of the 

 twenty-eighth general meeting, gave the support of its authority to 

 Struve' s results, while, on the other hand, the celebrated astronomer 

 J. F. Encke, in No. 622 of the Astronomische Naehrichten, considers 

 them hypothetical and without foundation. The society, conse- 

 quently, desires that a profound and scrupulous examination may 



