POLITICAL ECONOMY. 36/ 



next in merit, shall, after the preceding one, be worthy of 

 the adoption and applauses of the public. 



A grant to that effe6l having been obtained from his excel- 

 lency the viceroy, the medals will be struck in the royal mint. 

 In addition to the arms of the Society, and -the hierogly- 

 phics allusive to the subje6l, a short inscription will explain 

 the mbtive on which they have been struck, and the honour 

 they will confer on those who may chance to possess them. 

 Whenever they shall have undergone the necessary processes 

 of minting, engraving, &c. due notice will be given through 

 the channel of the Mercury, to the end that those who are de- 

 sirous to do so, may see and examine them. This publicity, 

 w^hich would be ridiculous in Europe, w^e deem necessary, to 

 prote6l us from the calumnies of some malicious or ignorant 

 individual, who might otherwise presume to throw doubts on 

 the seriousness of our engagement. 



The result of this patriotic proposal to bestow premiums,, 

 the first that had been offered in Peru on any similar occasion, 

 remains to be given. The dissertations were to be delivered 

 on or before the 30th of March 1792, and were to be ex- 

 amined by thirteen persons well known to possess a theoretical 

 and pra6lical knowledge of the subject proposed ; six to be 

 sele6led from among the members of the Society, and the re- 

 maining seven from the body of the literati of the capital. 

 Contrary to the expe6lations of the Society, not any disserta- 

 tion was sent, with the exception of one from Chachapoyas, 

 in the mountainous territory, whence little was to be ex- 

 pe6led. This dissertation possessed some degree of merit, but 

 not such as to entitle it to either of the honorary rewards the 

 Society had proposed. 



The 



