r 



258 Correspondence of /. NickUs. 



are substantiated by experience. Tbe Academy leaves to tlie 

 competitors an nnlimited range, and wishes to secure some great 

 step of progress, "wliich sliall l3e demonstrated practically, and 

 if possible, also theoretically. 



Society for the Aid of the Friends of Science.—^hoie has just 

 been established at Paris a society, the importance of which has 

 been demonstrated by recent events. It is not forgotten that 

 Laurent and Gerhardt died leaving a wife, and children under 

 age, without a competence. Some subscriptions set on foot im- 

 mediately, ameliorated somewhat their unfortunate condition, 

 without proving very efficacious."^ The society which has just 

 been organized, has for its end, the establishment of a fund for 

 the benefit of the families of men of science who may die with- 

 out fortune. Their object is thus stated: — " The undersigned, 

 considering that the cultivation of the sciences cannot be too 

 much encouraged, and that those who give themselves to it 

 with zeal sometimes so exhaust their resources as to leave their 

 families at death in need, have resolved to form a society whose 

 object shall be to give aid to the unfortunate that may be wor- 

 thy of their consideration." 



M 



and the prominent savants of France have joined it. The sub- 

 scription is ten francs per year. Independently of these sub- 

 scriptions, the society will receive with proper recognition, gifts 

 or bequests which may be made to it. 



Sistory of Science, Iron h^idnes. — On the occasion of a claim 



bibliogr: 



fact, wrote 



bridges. Mr. Boss, in 



entirely of iron, which was presented to that society in 1787 by 

 an Englishman of the name of Payne. A record of this has 

 been found in the archives of the Academy. A commission, 

 consisting of Bossut, Borda, and Eochon, at the session of the 

 29th of August, 1787, made a favorable report on this_ project 

 The plan was for a single arch of 400 feet span, and it wi^ to 

 have been made partly of wrought iron and partly of cast. In 

 the historical notice wliich forms the preamble of the Report, 

 the commission, after mentioning different bridges of iron that 

 had been only projected, dwelt at some length on a bridge which 



* We alluded in 1853 to the Bubscription iindcrtakon in that year for the widow 

 and chddren of Laurent AuotLer lia^ just now been started for tbe 'widow ana 

 three children of Gerhardt: it is a subscription of a new kind, under which tbe 

 minimum contribution ia 100 franca; and in exchange for this sum, the subscriber 

 receives the Treatise on Organic Chemistry which Gerhardt was bringing to a close 

 when he died. Each cony is accompanied with a notice written by M. Cahours ana 

 an autograph of Gerhardt. A similar subscription has been opened in London, in 

 Switzerland, in Gerniany, and in the different Faculties of France. I feel confiaent 

 that the scientific men of the United Stiites will not be behind their confreres oi 



BfiTope. 



