No. 2. In the Russian language, "Time is the earliest thing in nature, &c."

No. 3. In Latin," Est-ne color proprius rerum, lucisne repulsus eludunt aciem ?"

No. 4. In French, "Nox abiit nec tamen orta dies!"

No. 5. In German, "Ut noscus splendore novo res semper egere, et primum jactum, &c.”

No. 6. In German, "La physique ne sera veritablement une science, que lorsque tous les effets naturels se deduiront clairement d'un seul et meme principe evidement dèmontrè.”

The three first tracts, No. 1, 2, 3, beside the common fault of wanting new experiments, a complete and instructive series of which was required by the academical notice, contained hypothesis and propositions, either well known, erroneous, or ill expressed, and advanced without demonstration. For these reasons, the academy did not think these tracts could aspire to the prize.

On opening two of the sealed notes, Doctor Henry Frederick Link, professor of physic at the university of Rostock, was found to be the author of No. 5; and Mr. Placidus Heinrich, professor of physic and mathematics, to the Abbey de St. Emerau, at Ratisbon, the author of No. 6. The notes of the remaining tracts were burnt without being opened..

When the academy had made public the notice, in which the marine department proposed a prize on the question concerning the resistance of fluids; they had engaged to publish also the judgment which that department, in conjunction with the academy, should make on the memoirs presented conformably to this engagement, the academy announce, by the present, the receipt of these memoirs, viz.

No. 1. With the motto, " Sit modus lasso maris et viarum militiaeque."

No. 2. "Praestat natura vosce doceri, quam ingenio suo sapere."

No. 3. "England and France agree."

(The last of which came after the time), none were found to satisfy all the conditions of the problems; but as the tract No. 2, exhibits a new theory, which though not established on grounds

The tract No. 4, is not without merit, the author enters upon several interesting questions concerning the nature of light, in a manner that readily convinces us he is not a stranger to the subject; but the deficiency of connexion and of systematic arrangement which is per-sufficiently solid, nor applied to naval architecture, ceived in the tract, and above all the absolute want of new experiments, which might lead to new results, or serve as a support to a number of hypothesis advanced by the author, and destitute of every species of demonstration, would not permit the academy to adjudge the prize to this memoir even had there been none of greater merit.

pieces are executed upon a plan wisely conceived, expressed with clearness, and arranged in a sufficiently systematic order. On the other hand, in each were found some incoherent and contradictory conclusions, as also propositions hazarded without sufficient proof, besides some errors, and obsure passages. But as these imperfections were overbalanced by researches of great merit, the academy without acceding to every assertion of the authors, have nevertheless thought it their duty to divide the prize between the authors of Nos. 5 and 6, thinking them worthy of encouragement and honourable reward.

in the manner the notice required, yet is preferable, in some measure, to the theories of Vome and of Don George Juan; agrees better with experiments than the common theories, and deserves therefore to be noticed advantageously; the marine department to recompence the author for his trouble and laudable efforts, have decreed to him the prize of one hundred Dutch ducats, and the academy have given their sanction to this decision; the opening of the sealed note, discovered the author in the person of Mr. Zacarie Nordmark, professor of mathematics in the university of Upsal.

In publishing these judgments, and distribution of prizes for the year 1806, the academy proposes the following question for the present year, 1807:

Chymistry teaches us the means of discovering the noxious qualities of mineral bodies, whereas it is only by empiricism, that we have learned to distinguish venomous plants from those that are not so; even the characteristics, by which we think ourselves enabled to determine of the presence or absence of venom in vegetables, are not always sufficiently certain and incontestable.

The livid colour, for example, which has rendered many plants suspected, is a deceiving sign. The bur (Arctium Lappa), looks dull, and is of a pale colour, yet is a wholesome plant; on the contrary, the laurel (Daphine), is remarkable for the beauty of its flowers and leaves, yet

this is venomous. The families of ranunculus and anemone are as beautiful as they are numerous, they are, however, for the greater part noxious.

or thing that might produce changes in them, which (like the black colour assumed by mushrooms when they are boiling), might indicate their noxious qualities, though the criterion of venomous mushrooms is not yet sufficiently esta

The same may be said of the disagreeable smell of plants, which is taken for a diagnostick ||blished. of the poisonous quality, and which sign is equally uncertain with the preceding.

The colour of the laurel is very agreeable, while the orache, (chenopodium vulvaria), an innocent and even salutary plant, is of a very disagreeable smell; the odour of the coriander is disagreeable to many persons, yet of a very salutary nature.

The umbellifluous plants, which grow in damp and inundated situations, have the reputation of being poisonous; notwithstanding this, the sium (le derle), and all its species, the sison inundatum et salsum, the phellandrium aquaticum, the angelica sylvestris, the aegopodium podagraria, plants which thrive in marshes, contain no poison. It is plain, therefore, that neither the pale colour, disagreeable smell, or growth in marshy places, can furnish us with certain and indisputable signs of the presence of venom in plants.

The pretended repugnance of animals to pernicious plants, is evidently as little infallible; the division of plants made by botanists into classes, orders, and families, according to their nature, is not more efficient in recognizing those that are venomous; to be convinced of this we have only to observe, that among the principal genus of the night shade, so suspected, is found || the potatoe, (colanum tuberasum), and also capsicum, (le piment des jardins) which has the virtue of exciting and destroying the pernicious principle in the narcotic plants.

In consequence of this want of an exterior and natural certain sign, by which venomous plants might be immediately detected, it would be desirable to find out some easy method of examining them; such for instance as an eudiometre,

An easy method is therefore required by which any individual, not having the least knowledge of botany, may detect venomous plants in a short time, at a small expence, and manner perfectly decisive.

The prize is one hundred Dutch ducats, and the precise time, after which no memoir can be admitted to the competition, is the 1st of July, 1808.

The academy invites the learned of all nations, without excluding its honorary members and correspondents, to investigate this matter; there are none but those academicians who are called to exercise the functions of judges, who it is thought ought to be excluded.

The learned who contend for the prize are not to put their names to their works, but merely a sentence, or moto, with sealed notes added to them, which will have the same motto outside, and the author's name, quality, and place of residence inside. The note of the piece which is determined to the prize shall be opened, and the rest shall be burnt unopened.

The tracts should be written in legible characters, either in Russian, French, English, Ger. man, or Latin, and must be addressed to the permanent secretary of the academy, who shall deliver to the person appointed by the author, a receipt marked with the same number and motto which was inscribed on the piece.

The successful memoir is to be the property of the academy; and, without whose formal permission, the author shall not print it.

The rest of the tracts may be received back from the secretary, who will deliver them at St. Petersburgh to any person commissioned by the author to apply for them.