21 6 
Count Rumford’s Letter 
“ important discovery, or useful improvement, which shall be 
“ made and published by printing, or in any way made known 
“ to the public, in any part of Europe, during the preceding 
“ two years, on Heat, or on Light; the preference always being 
“ given to such discoveries as shall, in the opinion of the Pre- 
“ sident and Council of the Royal Society, tend most to pro- 
“ mote the good of mankind. 
“ With regard to the formalities to be observed by the Pre- 
“ sident and Council of the Royal Society, in their decisions 
“ upon the comparative merits of those discoveries, which in 
“ the opinion of the President and Council may entitle their 
“ authors to be considered as competitors for this biennial pre- 
“ mium, the President and Council of the Royal Society will 
“ be pleased to adopt such regulations as they in their wisdom 
“ may judge to be proper and necessary. But in regard to the 
“ form in which this premium is conferred, I take the liberty 
“ to request, that it may always be given in two medals, struck 
“ in the same die, the one of gold, and the other of silver; and 
“ of such dimensions, that both of them together may be just 
“ equal in intrinsic value to the amount of the interest of the 
“ aforesaid one thousand pounds stock during two years ; that 
“ is to say, that they may together be of the value of sixty 
“ pounds sterling. 
“ The President and Council of the Royal Society will be 
“ pleased to order such device or inscription to be engraved on 
“ the die they shall cause to be prepared for striking these me- 
“ dais, as they may judge proper. 
“If, during any term of years, reckoning from the last ad- 
judication, or from the last period for the adjudication of this 
“ premium, by the President and Council of the Royal Society, 
