440 PRIZE- QUESTIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



N. B. — The temiieratiires in all the preceding cases should be reduced, 

 as far as possible, to that of a thermometer in air. 



V. lleqoired researches on the origin of organs of sense, especially 

 of the organ of sight, among some of the inferior animals ; this origin 

 being considered, as far as possible, in connection with the conditions 

 under which the animal is found, and the exterior influences to which it 

 is exT)osed. 



VI. In terrestrial magnetism, what periods are known with sufScient 

 exactness, and to what point may these })eriods be confidently associated 

 with other phenomena, cosmical or terrestrial. 



VII. Required new experiments and observations concerning the ques- 

 tion of learning how the albuminoid substances are formed and displaced 

 in the plant; a historical and critical review of anterior researches should 

 precede this account. 



VIII. In proportion as the number of known isomeric substances 

 increases in the domain of organic chemistry, it becomes more desira- 

 ble that their differences of structure should be harmonized with their 

 physical characters. Therefore, the society requires the exact deter- 

 mination of the CO- efficient of expansion, the fusiug-point, the boiling- 

 point, the specific heat, the index of refraction, and the specific rotary 

 power of at least twenty organic compounds which are isomeric two by 

 two and the chemical composition of which is known. 



IX. The experiments of M. Eegnault in regard to the specific heat of 

 some terpins and those of M. Berthelot in regard to diamylene and tri- 

 amylene show that the specific heat of polj' mers of a compound may be 

 equal to that of the fundamental materials of which they are formed. 

 The society requires that the investigations should be made as far as 

 possible to cover other combinations having the same relations with 

 each other, in order to decide if the fact observed by Eegnault and Ber- 

 thelot may be raised to the rank of a law or not. 



X. Submit to a profound investigation the composition of tetraphenol 

 and its derivatives so as to be enabled to pass judgment on the hypoth- 

 esis of M. Limpricht concei'ning the existence of a series of aromatic 

 substances in the stones of fruit composed of four atoms of carbon; 



XL Eeqoired a critical review of the observations and experiments 

 concerning the existence of bacteries in contagious diseases of men and 

 other mammals, followed by original researches on the same question 

 made on one or more of these contagious diseases. The nature of for- 

 eign organisms should be exactly determined with figures ; and the 

 author s-hould determine by experiment to what point the contagious 

 character of the disease is confined to the presence of bacteries. 



XII. Of late years the mode of growth of bones has been studied on a 

 large scale by several scientists, who have obtained very coutradictoi'y 

 results. The society requires a work on this subject in which the 



