306 SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



French National Institute. 



Prize questions. -"- HE following prize questions are proposed for the year 

 Phosphorescent 1809. A considerable number of substances, under differ- 

 substances. en t circumstances, diffuse a phosphorescent light, more or 

 less vivid, and more or less durable. Such are the fluate of 

 lime, and some varieties of phosphate of lime, when thrown 

 in powder on a heated body ; the Bolognian phosphorus, 

 when, after having been exposed to light, it is carried into 

 a dark place ; certain sulphurets of zinc, when rubbed with 

 a hard substance, or even with a quill; rotten wood, cer- 

 tain fishes, and other animal substances approaching to pu- 

 trefaction, -when in the dark ; &c. The Class of Mathe- 

 matical and Physical Sciences therefore proposes as the sub- 

 ject of the physical prize, which it will adjudge in the pub- 

 lic meeting of the first Monday in January, 1809, the fol- 

 lowing question. 



u To ascertain by experiment what relations subsist be- 

 tween the different modes of phosphorescence, and to what 

 cause every kind of it is owing, excluding from the exami- 

 nation the phenomena of this class that are observed in liv- 

 ing animals." 



The prize will be a gold medal of the value of 3000 fr- 

 (125/.) : and the papers must be delivered at the secretary's 

 office before the 1st of October, 1808. 



The term of the following question is prolonged from the 

 21st of March to the 1st of October, 1807, in conse- 

 quence of the change made in the period of the annual 

 meetings, which will prevent a decision on the papers from 

 taking place before January. 

 Hibernation of " ^° determine D y anatomical and chemical observations 

 animals. and experiments, what are the phenomena of the torpidity, 



that certain animals, such as marmots, dormice, &c, ex- 

 perience during winter, with respect to the circulation of 

 the blood, respiration} and irritability; and to investigate 

 the causes of this sleep, and why it is peculiar to those 

 animals." 



Messrs,, 



