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Correspondence of J. Nicklés. 79 
Art. XII.—Prize for applications of the Electric Prie.— Heteroge- 
ny.— Influence of Light on Proto-organisms.-— Association for 
the Advancement of Meteorology.—On the intensity of action of the 
Solar disk.—Acclimation of Salmon in Australia.— Production 
of the Seaes.— Cutting of the Isthmus of Suez.—First idea of Elec 
tric Telegraphy. Correspondence of Prof. J. Nickiis, dated 
Nancy, France, Oct. 20, 1864. 
Prize for applications of the electric pile-—The prize of 50,000 
francs, which was founded in 1852 by the Emperor Napoleon, 
has just been decreed to Ruhmkorff, for the induction appar: 
atus known as “Ruhmkorft's coil,” the mechanism of which 
we were among the first to make known.’ e committee, 
consisting of Messrs. Pelouze, Rayer, Serres, Becquerel, H. St. 
Claire Deville, and others, was presided over by Dumas. We 
make the following extracts from his report : 
“ Mr. Ruhmkorff was at first a workman for some of our best 
constructors of physical apparatus, afterward had his own work- 
Shop, and finally became head of a house of constantly increas- 
ing celebrity. 
“ His education was gained, little by little, through reflection, 
study, and the lectures of certain professors heard as it were b 
stealth in his occasional hours of leisure. Modest, of unyield- 
ing perseverance, and of aself-devotion which has earned for him 
the highest encomiums, Mr. Ruhmkorff will ever remain the 
type of his class—a model for the numerous intelligent work- 
men who fill the higher order of workshops (ateliers de precision) 
o is. T’o those, who, like him, know how to control their 
desires, who faithfully strive for perfection in work and clearness 
in conceptions, who bend their attention to one object, and labor 
untiringly until a high superiority is gained and also for them- 
selves the satisfactions of a ripe age, the compensation for the 
Sacrifices and privations of youth will not be lacking in a coun- 
where, more than ever, merit finds recompense. 
“Since 1851, Mr. Ruhmkorff has devoted himself to the con- 
struction and perfection of his apparatus, and he has ended by 
Securing for it his own name, by giving it a scientific value 
which no one contests, and by rendering it of so great power as 
to me a means of numerous practical applications, qi. 
“The Ruhmkorff apparatus unites the two forms of electricity, 
which had been separated as by an abyss—the old machine elec- 
tricity, characterized by a capability of producing sparks and by 
aay Meera and the electricity of the pile, characterized by 
Feel 
Yery feeble tension and by its inability to produce true sparks. 
LS ee * 
? This Journal, 1853, xv, 114; 1862, vol. xxxiii, 
