482 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 564. 



1804. subsequently married the widow of 

 Lavoisier, and died in 1814. By a bequest 

 in his will he founded the Rumford Pro- 

 fessorship of the Application of Science to 

 the Useful Arts in Harvard University. 



The Rumfor.d Fund had its origin in the 

 gift by Count Rumford to the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences of the sum 

 of $5,000 ; which was simultaneous with the 

 gift of a like sum, £1,000, to the Royal 

 Society of Great Britain. The purpose of 

 the fund was the same in each case, the 

 award of a suitable premium for discov- 

 eries or improvements in heat and light. 



The intention of the donor was an- 

 nounced to the academy in the following 



letter : 



LoNDOTs^, July 12, 1796. 



To the Hon. John Adams, President of the Amer- 

 ican Academy of Arts and Sciences: 



Sir, — Desirous of contributing efficaciously to 

 the advancement of a branch of science which has 

 long employed my attention, and which appears 

 to me to be of the highest importance to man- 

 kind, and wishing at the same time to leave a 

 lasting testimony of my respect for the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, I take the liberty 

 to request that the academy would do me the 

 honor to accept of five thousand dollars, three 

 per cent, stock in the funds of the United States 

 of North America, which stock I have actually 

 purchased, and which I beg leave to transfer to 

 the fellows of the academy, to the end that the 

 interest of the same may be by them, and by 

 their successors, received from time to time, for- 

 ever, and the amount of the same applied and 

 given once every second year, as a premium, to 

 the author of the most important discovery or 

 useful improvement, which shall be made and 

 published by printing, or in any way made known 

 to the public, in any part of the continent of 

 America, or in any of the American islands dur- 

 ing the preceding two years, on heat, or on light; 

 the preference always being given to such dis- 

 coveries as shall, in the opinion of the academy, 

 tend most to promote the good of mankind. 



With regard to the formalities to be observed 

 by the academy in their decisions upon the com- 

 parative merits of those discoveries which in the 

 opinion of the academy may entitle their authors 

 to be considei'ed as competitors for this biennial 



premium, the academy will be pleased to adopt 

 such regulations as they in their wisdom may 

 judge to be proper and necessary. 



But in regard to the form in which this prem- 

 ium is conferred, I take the liberty to request 

 that it may always be given in two medals, struck 

 in the same die, the one of gold and the other of 

 silver, and of such dimensions that both of them 

 together may be just equal in intrinsic value to 

 the amount of interest of the aforesaid five thou- 

 sand dollars stock during two years: that is to 

 say, that they may together be of the value of 

 three hundred dollars. 



The academy will be pleased to order such device 

 or inscription to be engraved oil .the die they shall 

 cause to be prepared for striking these medals, 

 as they may judge proper. 



If during any term of two years, reckoning 

 from the last adjudication, or from the period for 

 the adjudication of this premium by the academy, 

 no new discovery or improvement should be made 

 in any part of America, relative to either of tlie 

 subjects in question (heat or light), which, in 

 the opinion of the academy shall be of sufficient 

 importance to deserve this premium, in that case, 

 it is my desire that the premium may not be 

 given, but that the value of it may be reserved, 

 and by laying out in the purchase of additional 

 stock in the American funds may be applied to 

 augment the capital of this premium; and that 

 the interest of the sums by which the capital may, 

 from time to time, be so augmented, may regularly 

 be given in money with the two medals, and as an 

 addition to the original premium at each succeed- 

 ing adjudication of it. And it is further my 

 particular request that those additions to the 

 A^alue of the premium arising from its occasional 

 non-adjudication may be suflfered to increase with- 

 out limitation. 



With the highest respect for the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the most 

 earnest wishes for their success in their labors 

 for the good of mankind, 



I have the honor to be, with much esteem and 

 regard, sir. 



Your most obedient, humble servant, 



Rumford. 



The gift was accepted by the academy, 

 but for many years no award of the pre- 

 mium was made as no claimant appeared 

 whose merit was such in its opinion as to 

 justify this. Meanwhile the fund had 

 accumulated to the amount of $20,000, and 



