1820.] Harlem Philosophical Society. 461 



the time for answer to Jan. 1, 1822. It is requested that the 

 assigned causes be supported by actual experiment and obser- 

 vation. 



11. "What kinds of potatoes are generally cultivated in the 

 different provinces of this kingdom; what is the difference with 

 respect to kind and quality? How do they differ particularly 

 •with regard to the constituent principles, and the use which is 

 made of them ? Is it proved by experience that any one kind 

 is more decidedly nutritious or more salutary than the rest ? And 

 what improvement is such knowledge likely to produce in the 

 cultivation of potatoes within this kingdom ? " A paper written 

 in French had been sent in as a reply to this question, but was 

 proved by one of the members of the Society to be merely a 

 translation from a German work, pubhshed at Weimar, 1819, 

 entitled, " Versuch einer Monographie der Kartoffeln, &c." The 

 question was, therefore, re-proposed for answer before Jan. 1 

 1823. 



12. The new method of distillery, first practised at Montpel- 

 lier, and afterwards improved in the South of France (by which 

 the spirituous liquors are not immediately exposed to the fire, but 

 heated by steam), being not only more economical than the 

 common method, but the spirits thus obtained having a more 

 pure and agreeable flavour; and it being, therefore, desirable 

 that this method should be introduced into Holland, the Society 

 had proposed the following question : " What is the best appa- 

 ratus for thus obtaining, and in the most profitable manner, the 

 purest spirituous liquors from grain, as they are distilled in 

 France from wine ? " In reply to this, a paper had been sent in, 

 but what novel information it contained, being unsupported by 

 experiment, it did not obtain the prize, and the question remains 

 open till Jan. 1, 1822. 



No answers having been received to the six following ques- 

 tions, they were re-proposed, and the Hmited time extends to 

 Jan.l, 1822. 



1. " How far is it actually demonstrated that fumigation 

 with chlorine gas has prevented the propagation of con- 

 tagious diseases ? What are the contagious diseases in which it 

 ought to be tried, and what ought to be principally observed in 

 such experiments ? Is there any reason to expect more salutary 

 effects from any other method hitherto employed or proposed 

 for this purpose? " 



It is requested that a succinct enumeration be given of the 

 cases in which such fumigation has proved effectual in prevent- 

 ing various contagious diseases. 



2. " How far does the physiology of the human body afford 

 just grounds for supposing, or how far has experience satisfac- 

 torily proved, that oxygen gas is one of the most efficacious 

 remedies for recovering persons who are drowned, suffocated, or 



