183 



No. 19. THE RUMFORD FUND. 



Count Rumford, F.R.S., in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, dated July 12, 

 1796, informed him, as President of the Society, that he had purchased and 

 transferred '1,000 Stock in the funds of this country, to the end that the 

 interest of the same should be given once every second year as a premium 

 to the author of the most important discovery or useful improvement which 

 shall be made or published by printing, or in any way made known to the 

 public in any part of Europe 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 President and Council, tend most to promote the good of 

 mankind. The premium is to take the form of two medals, the one of gold 

 and the other of silver, to be together of the value of two years' interest on 

 the dl,000, or 60 sterling. In case of there being no new discovery in 

 heat or light during any term of years which, in the opinion of the President 

 and Council, is of sufficient importance to deserve the premium, direction is 

 given to invest its value in the purchase of additional stock in the English 

 Funds, and the interest of this additional capital is to be given in money, 

 with the two medals, at each succeeding adjudication. In a subsequent 

 letter, Count Rumford suggests that the premium should be limited to new 

 discoveries tending to improve the theories of fire, of heat, of light, and 

 of colours, and to new inventions and contrivances by which the generation, 

 and preservation, and management of heat and of light may be facilitated. 

 Chemical discoveries and improvements in optics, so far -as they answer any 

 of these conditions, are to be within the limits of the premium, but the 

 Count wishes especially to encourage such practical improvements in the 

 management of heat and light as tend directly and powerfully to increase 

 the enjoyments and comforts of life, especially in the lower and more 

 numerous classes of society. The first recipient of the medals was Count 

 Rumford himself. Previously to 1846 it was not unfrequently the case that 

 no medal was adjudicated for four years. Indeed between 1818 and 1832 

 the only recipient was M. Fresnel. As a consequence the invested funds 

 have increased to 2,367 2*. 6d., but the interest is now only 2| per cent. 

 The annual income is at present about d*59, and the sum of money that 

 accompanies the medals about 6Q (see p. 212). 



No. 20. THE SCIENTIFIC RELIEF FUND. 



This most excellent and valuable institution originated in the year 1859, 

 in a proposition of Mr. J. P. Gassiot, F.R.S., that a fund of this kind should 

 be founded for the aid of such scientific men, or their families, as may from 

 time to time require assistance. A circular announcing the project was 



