a: 
$ 6 
April 17, 1873] 
tained till now. William I. willingly accepted the pro- 
tectorate, and his example has been followed by his 
successors. 
The Secretary Van der Aa, who had been the soul of 
the Society from 1751 to 1794, was succeeded by the re- 
nowned Physical Professor Martinus van Marum, who at 
his death in 1837 was succeeded by the Professor of 
Geology, T. G. S. van Breda, who took his dismissal in 
1864, when the Professor of Chemistry, E. H. von Baum- 
hauer, was appointed to the office. 
From 1754 to 1793 the Society published thirty volumes 
of Transactions, of which registers by the celebrated 
T. T. Martinet were issued in 1773 and 1793. These 
Transactions contain essays on all branches of science, 
and also many on theology. It was principally through 
the influence of Van Marum that since then a more pre- 
dominating share has been taken by physical subjects, 
From 1799 to 1844 a first series of 24 volumes in octavo, 
and from 1841 te 1866 a second series of 25 volumes in 
quarto, and 1870 a third series of “ Physical Transac- 
tions” have been published by the Society. In 1802 a 
volume in octavo of “ Mechanical and Mathematical 
Transactions ” was published, and in 1821 and 1822 two 
volumes in octavo of *‘ Philosophical Transactions.” From 
1815 to 1820three volumes in octavo on literary and archzo- 
logical subj and since 1851 2 volumes of * Historical 
and Literary Transactions” in quarto have been pub- 
lished. The second and third series of “ Physical Trans- 
actions” are especially distinguished by the memoirs 
written by the most eminent men in Europe, mostly illus- 
trated by excellent plates. jf " 
The revenue of the Society is derived from the interest 
of capital, for which it is indebted to the kindness of the 
directors and from the annual subscriptions of the actual 
directors. It receives no pecuniary assistance whatever 
from the Government. 
With these means the Society endeavours to make 
known to the world excellent writings on physical sub- 
jects, which otherwise would be published with difficulty 
on account of their special character and the costliness of 
the illustrations. E 
Besides supporting such works, the Society encourages 
scientific researches, and since 1866 has published a journal 
in the French language, edited by the Secretary, under the 
title of “Archives Néerlandaises des Sciences Exactes et 
Naturelles,” of which already 7 volumes have appeared. 
This journal is destined to make known to the world all 
that is produced in the Netherlands and the Dutch pos- 
sessions related to physical science. This is of great 
service to the Dutch scientific men, since their researches, 
being for the most part written in a lan e so little 
known generally as the Dutch, would otherwise obtain 
only a very partial publicity. 
The Society is composed of an indefinite number of 
directors, for the greater part gentlemen of wealth and } é ‘ 
| of which Commission the Secretary of the Society is 
social importance, who pay an annual contribution of fifty 
gulden (about four guineas) and manage the finances, 
which, however, now are especially under the charge of 
five directors living in Harlem, presided over by the pre- 
sident. There are also sixty native and sixty foreign 
members, who are chosen in the General Assembly, held 
on the third Saturday of May, from a list of candidates 
made by the directors and members. These members 
pay no contribution whatever, and receive free all the 
publications of the Society. This membership of the 
oldest and most important Dutch society is esteemed a 
great distinction by learned men. The English members 
are Davidson, Davis, Kirkman, Hooker, Lyell, Owen, 
Sorby, Tyndall, and Wheatstone. The president of the 
Society is chosen every three years by the directors. At 
the present time the office is filled by Baron F. W. van 
Styrum. When a vacancy occurs in the secretary- 
ship, the native members nominate six from amongst 
themselves from whom the secretary is chosen by the 
NATURE 
465 
directors. He also acts as treasurer and librarian, and is 
the only paid officer, living in Harlem in the magnificent 
building belonging to the Society. 
The Society exchanges its publications with almost all 
the foreign academies and learned institutions, and to 
facilitate the interchange of books, the Secretary has 
instituted a central bureau in imitation of the American ~ 
Smithsonian Institute. 
As already named, the Society has regularly published 
a list of prize questions, the meritorious answering of 
which is rewarded by a gold medal of the value of about 
twelve guineas, to which may be added an equal sum or 
more,in money. At the present time no less than twenty 
such medals and prizes are offered for an equal number 
of subjects. 
At the centennial festival in 1852 the Society offered a 
prize of 1000 gulden for the most important work in one 
of the branches of physics, which should be published 
during the next four years, and a second of 2,000 gulden 
for the best in four following years. In the General 
Assembly of 1857 it was decided that this latter prize 
should not be bestowed upon anyone, but that M. Foucault 
should be informed that the Society regretted that his com- 
municated discoveries had not happened in the specified 
time, but would bestow on him the gold medal as a proof 
of the high value placed on his researches. On the con- 
trary, the first prize was doubled, on account of the diffi- 
culty of deciding between two authors of transmitted 
works, M. A. Decandolle of Geneva, and Herr O. Heer of 
Zurich, who were both judged to be deserving of the 1,000 
gulden offered to each. 
In the general assembly of 1869 the Society resolved 
that quite independently of the medals bestowed on 
crowned prize questions, two new medals should be 
established, of the intrinsic value of 500 gulden (about 
40 guineas), one to bear the name and image of Huygens, - 
and the other those of Boerhaave. These medals will be 
bestowed alternately every two years on learned men in 
the country or abroad, who shall be thought by the 
Society to have made themselves particularly meritorious 
during the last twenty years in a fixed subdivision of the 
mathematical and physical sciences, by their researches, 
discoveries, or inventions. The Huygens medal was ta 
be assigned in 1870 to the branch of physics, and will be 
assigned in 1874 to chemistry, in 1878 to astronomy, in 
1882 to meteorology, and in 1886 to pure and applied 
mathematics. : 
The Boerhaave medal was to be assigned in 1872 to 
geology and mineralogy, and will be assigned in 1878 to 
botany, in 1880 to zoology, in 1884 to physiology, and in 
1888 to anthropology ; after which the same order will be 
repeated over and over again in the case of both medals, 
so that one medal will be given every twenty years for 
each of ten different subjects. The judgment is to take 
place by a Commission to be appointed by the directors, 
always to be amember. The award is to be made in the 
General Assembly, in accordance with the pre-advice of 
the Commission, accompanied with a particular account 
of the motives which have led to the choice. 
The first Huygens medal was awarded in 1870 to 
Rodolph Julius Emmanuel Clausius, Professor at the 
University of Bonn, as founder of the mechanical theory 
of heat ; and in 1872 the first Boerhaave medal was given 
to Henry Clifton Sorby of Sheffield, for having made 
himself particularly meritorious by his microscopical re- 
searches in connection with geology and mineralogy, 
during the last twenty years. y 
The portrait of Huygens was taken from a copper-plate 
engraving by Edelink, and that of Boerhaave, from an 
oil painting by Troost, now in the Academy at Leiden. 
Independent of their size (3in, in diameter, 9 oz. troy) 
both these medals are most creditable to all parties con- 
cerned as fine works of art. 
