80 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



bodies when irradiated, I cannot state, as it has hitherto been 

 impossible for me to make any experiments in this direction. — 

 Gottinger Nachrichten, May 1888. 



THE BENECKE PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY. 



The Philosophical Faculty of the University of Gottingen pro- 

 pounds the following as the subject for the year 1891 : — 



In the last decades the fundamental importance of the law of 

 entropy for the theory of all those physical and chemical pheno- 

 mena, which are attended with a production or absorption of heat, 

 has acquired greater prominence. And more especially in those 

 essays on the law of energy which competed for the Benecke prize 

 in 1884, has it appeared that the law of entropy is necessary for 

 the completion of the law of energy. Simultaneously with this, 

 the researches which have had for their object the establishment of 

 the law of entropy on the basis of general mechanical principles, 

 have in recent times made important progress. A comprehensive 

 treatment of all questions which are connected with the law of entropy 

 appears therefore particularly desirable at the present time. 



Such a treatment should in the first place give the development 

 of the law of entropy, in connexion with a thorough restatement 

 and justification of Carnot's researches ; it would then have to dis- 

 cuss, not only historically but also critically, the investigations in 

 reference to the connexion of the law of entropy with the general 

 principles of mechanics ; it should finally contain a comprehensive 

 report on all the applications which the law of energy has found in 

 the theory of physical and chemical processes. 



The essays are to be sent in to the Philosophical Paculty of 

 Gottingen not later than the 31st August, 1890. They may be 

 written either in German, Latin, Prench, or English, and must be 

 accompanied by a sealed letter containing the name, profession, 

 and address of the author, and which on the outside must have a 

 motto the same as that on the competitive essay. 



The prizes will be awarded on the 11th of March, 1891, the 

 birthday of the founder, at a public session of the Philosophical 

 Paculty. 



The first prize is 1700 marks (<£85), and the second 680 marks 



The memoirs to which prizes are awarded remain the unrestricted 

 property of the authors. 



The titlepage of any competitive essay must also state the address 

 to which the paper is to be returned in case it is not found worthy 

 of a prize. 



The subject of the prize which is to be competed for to the 31st 

 August, 1889, is to be found in No. 5 of the Gottinger Nachrichten 

 for the year 1887. 



