THE RUMFORD FUND 3 



purchased, and which I beg leave to transfer to the Fellows of the 

 Academy, to the end that the interest of the same may be by 

 them, and by their successors, received from time to time, forever, 

 and the amount of the same applied and given once every second 

 year, as a premium, to the author of the most important discovery 

 or useful improvement, which shall be made and published by 

 printing, or in any way made known to the public, in any part 

 of the Continent of America, or in any of the American Islands 

 during the preceding two years, on Heat, or on Light ; the 

 preference always being given to such discoveries as shall, in 

 the opinion of the Academy, tend most to promote the good of" 

 mankind. 



With regard to the formalities to be observed by the Academy 

 in their decisions upon the comparative merits of those discoveries 

 which in the opinion of the Academy may entitle their Authors to 

 be considered as competitors for this biennial premium, the 

 Academy will be pleased to adopt such regulations as they in their 

 wisdom may judge to be proper and necessary. 



But in regard to the form in which this Premium is conferred, 

 I take the liberty to request that it may always be given in two 

 medals, struck in the same die, the one of gold and the other of 

 silver, and of such dimensions that both of them together may be 

 just equal in intrinsic value to the amount of interest of the 

 aforesaid Five Thousand Dollars stock during two years : that is to 

 say, that they may together be of the value of Three Hundred 

 Dollars. 



The Academy will be pleased to order such device or inscrip- 

 tion to be engraved on the die they shall cause to be prepared for 

 striking these medals, as they may judge proper. 



If during any term of two years, reckoning from the last ad- 

 judication, or from the period for the adjudication of this Premium 

 by the Academy, no new discovery or improvement should be 

 made in any part of America, relative to either of the subjects in 

 question (Heat or Light), which, in the opinion of the Academy 

 shall be of sufficient importance to deserve this Premium, in that case, 



