1796. JET. 43.] COUNT EUMFOKD. 53 



a less capacity for heat when it is in a denser than 

 when it is in a rarer state. I wish the Count had ascer- 

 tained whether the metal shavings he tried had really a 

 greater specific gravity than that of the chips of metal he 

 had sawed off. 



Whilst in England Eumford at this time strove to 

 advance scientific knowledge not only by the publication 

 of his own discoveries, but also by his benefactions for 

 the promotion of discovery by others, and by the further 

 practical application of some of the results which he 

 had obtained. 



On July 12, 1796, lie wrote to the Honourable 

 John Adams, President of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences at Boston, to offer 5,000 dollars in 

 the 3 per cent, stocks, 'to the end that the interest 

 may be spent every second year on a silver and gold 

 medal as a premium to the author of the most important 

 discovery or useful improvement 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.' 



In 1829 the fund accumulated to 20,000 dollars, 

 and in 1870 to 37,000 dollars. The Academy applied 

 to the Legislature to use the money for the purchase 

 of books and apparatus, and to pay for experiments, 

 lectures, and treatises, and this was decided in 1831. 

 During the first fifty years only one award of the medals 

 was made. This was to Dr. Hare, of Philadelphia, 

 1839. They have been since given to Mr. Ericsson, 

 Professor Tread well, Mr. Alvan Clark, and Mr. Corliss. 



On the same day in 1796 Count Kumford wrote to 



