ANNALS OF THE ACADEMY 9 1 



Not only was the importance of the investigation per se in- 

 sisted upon, but it was considered that it would stimulate an 

 interest in chemical research among the rising generation of 

 students of that branch of science, particularly, because it offered 

 a wide field for individual ingenuity and initiative, while at 

 the same time it did not demand the most costly and extensive 

 facilities, or the most finished training. The scheme was re- 

 ferred by the Academy to a committee which reported favorably 

 upon it, and the report was adopted by the Academy. 



The committee was continued, and in accordance with the 

 approval of the Academy, associated with itself Dr. G. N. Lewis 

 of Boston, who had given much attention personally to the 

 problems of chemical reactions. At the November meeting, 

 1907, this committee reported that it had prepared a circular 

 letter to heads of departments and to research workers in educa- 

 tional establishments, outlining the plan of research, and asked 

 the Academy to approve its distribution. This was granted and 

 the letter was accordingly circulated. Besides stating the 

 problem and asking cooperation in its solution, the letter men- 

 tioned three pamphlets bearing on the subject which had been 

 prepared, by the committee containing a summary of the 

 problem, the best means of attacking it and a resume of the 

 condition of knowledge regarding it. These were entitled 

 respectively, " The Maximum Work Producible by Chemical 

 Reactions," " The Principles of Energetics and their Application 

 to Chemical and Physico-chemical Changes," and " The Free 

 Energy of Chemical Compounds." 



The list of trust funds of the Academy, already a long one, 

 received an important addition in November, 1907, when Gen- 

 eral Cyrus B. Comstock, Director of the Geodetic Survey of the 

 Northern and Northwestern Lakes and President of the 

 Mississippi River Commission, presented the sum of $10,000 

 " to advance knowledge in electricity, magnetism, and radiant 

 energy, by the giving of money prizes for important investi- 

 gations or discoveries in those subjects." It was General Com- 

 stock's wish that the principal of the fund should be maintained 



