498 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 301. 



"3. To the author of the most important 

 discovery in the department of physiology 

 or of medicine. 



" 4. To the author having produced the 

 most notable literary work in the sense of 

 idealism. 



" 5. To the person having done the most, 

 or the best, in the work of establishing the 

 brotherhood of nations, for the suppression 

 or the reduction of standing armies, as well 

 as for the formation and the propagation 

 of peace conferences. 



" The prizes will be awarded as follows : 

 For physical science and chemistry, by the 

 Swedish Academy of Sciences ; for works 

 in physiology or medicine, by the Carolin 

 Institute of Stockholm ; for literature, by 

 the Academy of Stockholm ; finally, for the 

 work of peace, by a committee of five mem- 

 bers, elected by the Norwegian Stortung. 

 It is my expressed will that nationality 

 shall not be considered, so that the prize 

 may accrue to the most worthy, whether 

 he be a Scandinavian or not." 



The testamentary stipulations above cited 

 serve as a basis for the regulations relating 

 to the Nobel endowment, together with the 

 explanations and the more detailed pro- 

 visions contained in the present law, as 

 well as in the deed of compromise, amicably 

 brought about June 5, 1898, with certain 

 of the heirs of the testator, and according 

 to which the said heirs, after an agreement 

 concluded on the subject of a less impor- 

 tant portion of the property left by Dr. No- 

 bel, declared that they accepted the will of 

 Dr. Nobel and renounced in all contingen- 

 cies, for themselves and for their descend- 

 ants, all claim for the remainder of the 

 succession of the said Dr. Nobel and all 

 share in the administration of the legacy ; 

 they abandoned also all right to protest 

 against the interpretations or additions to 

 the will or other limitations relative to its 

 execution, and to the employment of the 

 capital which might be now, or in the fu- 



ture, made by decision of the King or by 

 competent authorities. The following res- 

 ervations are, however, expressly stipu- 

 lated : 



a. That the common law for all the 

 authorities charged with the distribution 

 of the prizes, and governing the manner 

 and the conditions of the distribution, pre- 

 scribed by the will, must be drawn up by 

 common consent with a representative del- 

 egated by the family of Eobert Nobel and 

 submitted to the approval of the King. 



h. That the following principles cannot 

 be deviated from, viz : 



1. That each of the annual prizes estab- 

 lished by the will must be awarded at least 

 once in the course of every period of five 

 years, commencing with the year immedi- 

 ately following that in which the Nobel en- 

 dowment shall enter on its functions, and 

 that the sum total of a prize thus awarded 

 shall in no case be less than 60 per cent, of 

 the part of the yearly revenues disposable 

 for the distribution of the prizes ; neither 

 can it be divided into more than three 

 prizes at the most. 



2. By the title 'Academy of Stockholm" 

 written in the will is understood the Swe- 

 dish Academy. 



By the word ' literature ' must be under- 

 stood not only works purely literary, but 

 also any other writing possessing by its form 

 and its style a literary value. The limita- 

 tion of the will declaring that the annual 

 distribution of prizes must be directed to 

 works executed ' in the course of the pre- 

 ceding year ' must be interpreted in this 

 sense, that the objects of the rewards shall 

 be the most recent results of research dis- 

 played in the departments indicated by the 

 will ; older works will be considered only in 

 the event that their importance shall have 

 been demonstrated in recent times. 



3. In order to be admitted to the compe- 

 tition, every written work must have been 

 published by means of the press. 



