PROGRAMME OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BELLES-LETTERS, AND ARTS OF BORDEAUX.

Questions submitted to competition for 1869 or following years:

I. Literature.-"Has a theatrical censorship been promotive of the morality of the art? What legislative measures would be suitable for protecting at once the liberty of authors and the respect for good morals ?" Prize, a gold medal of 400 francs.

II. History. First, "A history of the parliament of Bordeaux, from its origin to the end of the 16th century, with especial consideration of its influence as a political body and as a judicial body." Prize, a medal of gold of 500 francs. Second, "Origin of villanage and forced aids in Guienne, and the progress of their establishment." Prize, a gold medal of 200 francs. Third, "It would be interesting to have a particular history of several cities of our country, such as Saint Macaire, Cadillac, Sanveterre, Rions, Bazas, Lesparre, and some others." The Academy will award, in 1869 and 1870, a prize, which may amount to 500 francs, for a monograph of this kind in which personal matters and, as far as possible, the use of documents not hitherto explored shall be allied with competent qualifications of exactness and judgment. Fourth, "Among the institutions which have contributed to the honor and prosperity of the province of Guienne and the city of Bordeaux, the establishments of public instruction hold the first place; it is impossible to forget the services rendered by the college of Guienne, and, more recently, by the central school of the department." The Academy will award a gold medal of 300 francs to the best memoir which shall retrace the history of one of these establishments, or any analogous one; this thesis is proposed for 1869.

III. Linguistics.-It is desirable to have a general glossary of the Gascon tongue spoken in our department. In order to be complete it must comprise not only the synonyms and equivalents, but further and more especially the variations of words in the different dialects of the country. The compilation of such a work, however, can only be possible on the condition of having been preceded by the publication of special glossaries, embracing localities of more or less extent, but so restricted, nevertheless, that one single author may possess the dialect completely and exactly. The Academy solicits studious persons to direct their inquiries to this point before the use of the French language, becoming more and more general, shall have caused the last vestiges of these old idioms to disappear. Hence, the Academy proposes the following subject: "To compile, for the Gascon language, spoken in the department of the Gironde, a lexicon which, to an exact and sufficiently complete nomenclature of the words of a given locality, shall add the precise explanation of those words alike in their acceptation in common usage and in the idioms, adages, proverbs, agricultural by-words, Christmas carols and old songs in which they have been employed." Prize, a gold medal of 300 francs.

IV. Physical sciences." A recapitulation of the consequences to which the ideas acquired, within a quarter of a century, on the equivalence of heat and mechanical work have led, whether in physics or in chemistry." Prize, a gold medal of 300 francs, which may be raised to 500 francs in case the production shall contain new facts. "A recapitulation and discussion of the facts acquired by science regarding the production and the consumption of forces in living beings." Prize, a gold medal of 500 francs.

V. Natural sciences.-"The construction of aquariums has enabled us to study the habits of a great number of animals. The basin of Arcachon having already been the scene of interesting investigations, the Academy desires that researches of this nature should be continued." To that end it proffers a prize of 500 francs.

Fauna of the Gironde.-The department of the Gironde possesses catalogues more or less complete of its vertebrate animals, its testaceous mollusks, coleoptera, lepidoptera, &c.; but this fauna, far advanced as it is, is wholly wanting in any collective review of the marine animals belonging to the inferior orders. Considering that in defect of rocky coasts our department includes at least a vast estuary (the basin of Arcachon) highly favorable to the study of a great number of these different organisms, the Academy would indicate the following as a desideratum: "The preparation of catalogues of the crustacea, annelidæ, radiata, &c., which are still deficient in the fauna of the department of the Gironde; to be accompanied by figures of new or little known species." Prize, a gold medal of 500 francs.

VI. Physiology.-The Academy having had the pleasure of crowning a meritorious memoir on a subject which it had proposed under this head, hopes to obtain a like gratifying result by presenting the following questions at once of scientific and practical interest and worthy of exciting the emulation of our savants: First. "A study of the anatomical and physiological relations which exist between the nervous cellules of the primitive fibers, sensitive and motive. The application of these researches to the study of reflex and sympathetic actions." Prize, a gold medal of 300 francs. Second, "Physiological and therapeutic effects of the ingesta which excite to labor and vigilance, which supply in part the place of aliments, and some of which are recognized as moderators of the vital combustion, such as alcohol, coffee, tea, maté, cocoa, &c." The prize will be a gold medal of 300 francs.

VII. Fine arts."State and tendency of religious architecture at the present epoch." Prize, a gold medal of 300 francs. History of painting at Bordeaux." Prize, a medal, the value of which may extend to 500 francs.

VIII. Poetry. The competition in poetry is subject to the conditions heretofore prescribed, and the choice of the subject remains optional with the author.

IX. Biographical notices.-As in previous years, the Academy invites biographical notices of the celebrated or useful men who have belonged either to the province of Guienne or to the department. "Life and works of Brascassat.” Prize, a gold medal of 300 francs.

X. Archeology.-"Monograph of the church of Saint Michel of Bordeaux, with historic documents, plans and designs." Prize, a medal of 500 francs. "For the best memoir on the history of the church of Soulac, corroborated by plans, designs, and an indication of the original or printed documents consulted by the author." Prize, a gold medal of 300 francs. The Academy desiring to encourage archeological researches in the department of the Gironde, awards also medals of encouragement to the authors of the most important researches.

XI. Hydrology.-The question of artesian excavations has been theoretically treated for some isolated points of the vast basin of Aquitaine in the various publications and academic communications of MM. de Collegno, de Lamothe, Jacquot, and Raulin; it has been also experimentally solved by several successful trials made in the department. Many municipal administrations are, at this moment, asking for instructions on the chances of success which their localities offer for such enterprises. The Academy allying itself with this movement, proposes the following: "A discussion of the question of artesian borings in a general manner for Aquitaine, upon the data which geology furnishes with respect to the ground-slope of the aquitanic basin, its orographic characters and the levels of absorption of water presented by the different embanking rocks of its borders." Prize, a gold medal of 500 francs.

Conditions of competition.-The articles proposed for competition must fulfil the following conditions: Be written in French or Latin; be received at the secretariat of the Academy, rue Jean-Jacques Bel, before the 31st October, 1869 or 1870, as indicated in the programme; be free of postage; neither be signed by the author nor contain any indication by which he can be known; they shall bear an epigraph, which shall be repeated in a sealed note annexed to the article to which it belongs. This note, besides the epigraph, shall contain the name and address of the author, with the declaration that it has never been printed, offered for competition, or communicated to any academic society. An article proceeding from any author whose name shall be previously disclosed, will, from that circumstance alone, be excluded from competition. This condition is rigorous. The sealed notes will not be opened except in the case when an academic recompense shall have been obtained. From the observation of the above formalities are exempt, the productions of aspirants to medals of encouragement, and to prizes for obtaining which, local researches or the statement of experiments performed by the authors themselves shall be essential. Competition is open to both foreigners and natives, even to such of the latter as pertain to the Academy by the title of corresponding members.

Extract from the regulations of the Academy.-As soon as the Academy has rendered its decision, if there be prizes or honorable mention to be conferred, the president proceeds, in general assembly, to the opening of the sealed notes annexed to the prize essays. The notes pertaining to others are detached from the memoir, sealed by the president, and preserved by the archivist. The authors of the prize essays are immediately informed of the decision of the Academy, and those decisions are made public. The manuscripts and all the documentary papers of whatever nature, addressed to the Academy, remain in the archives after being marked with the initials and paraph of the president and secretary-general, and can in no case be removed. As the Academy, however, asserts no right of property over the papers, their authors may cause copies to be taken from the archives, after first proving that these productions belong to them. Independently of the prizes of which the subjects are named in the annual programme, the Academy bestows medals of encouragement on the authors who address to it works of real merit, and on persons who send to it documents on the different branches of science, letters and art. It may likewise award a prize to the corresponding member who shall have best merited it by the utility of his communications and the importance of the labors which he shall have submitted to it.

ROUX, President.

VALAT, Secretary-General.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PROCESSES EMPLOYED IN THE ASSAY OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS AT THE MINT OF THE UNITED STATES.

FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT OF JAMES POLLOCK, DIRECTOR.

PRINCIPLES OF THE OPERATION.

According to law, the standard gold of the United States is so constituted that in 1,000 parts by weight 900 shall be of pure gold, and 100 of an alloy composed of copper and silver.

The process of assay requires that the copper and silver be both entirely removed from the gold; and to effect this, two separate operations are necessary. The first is for the removal of the copper; and this is done by a method called cupellation, which is conducted in an assay furnace in a cupel composed of calcined bones. To the other metals, lead is added; this metal possesses the properties of oxidizing and vitrifying under the action of heat, of promoting at the same time the oxidation of the copper and other base metals, and of drawing with it into the pores of the cupel the whole of these metals, so as to separate entirely this part of the alloy, and to leave behind the gold and silver only.

The separation of the silver from the gold is effected by a process founded on the property possessed by nitric acid of dissolving silver without acting upon gold. But that the gold may not protect the silver from this action, sufficient silver must first be added to make it at least two-thirds of the mass. The process to be described is based upon the rule of quartation, in which the proportion of silver is three-fourths.

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PROCESS OF ASSAY.

The reserved gold coins are placed in a black-lead crucible, and covered with borax to assist the fluxing and to prevent oxidation of the copper alloy. They are thus melted down and stirred; by which a complete mixture is effected, so that an assay piece may be taken from any part of the bar cast out. The piece taken for this purpose is rolled out for convenience of cutting. It is then taken to an assay balance (sensible to the ten-thousandth of a half gram or less,) and from it is weighed a half gram,, which is the normal assay weight for gold being about 7.7 grains troy. This weight is stamped 1000; and all the lesser weights, (afterwards brought into requisition,) are decimal divisions of this weight, down to one ten-thousandth part.

Silver is next weighed out for the quartation; and as the assay-piece, if standard, should contain 900 thousandths of gold, there must be three times this weight, or 2700 thousandths of silver; and this is accordingly the quantity used. It is true that there is already some silver in the alloy, but a little excess over the quantity required for the quartation does no injury to the process.

The lead used for the cupellation is kept prepared in thin sheets, cut into square pieces, which should each weigh about ten times as much as the gold under assay.

The lead is now rolled into the form of a hollow cone; and into this are introduced the assay gold and the quartation silver, when the lead is closed round them and pressed into a ball.

The furnace having been properly heated, and the cupels placed in it and

brought to the same temperature, the leaden ball, with its contents, is put into one of the cupels, the furnace closed, and the operation allowed to proceed until all agitation is ceased to be observed in the melted metal and its surface has become bright.

This is an indication that the whole of the base metals have been converted into oxides and absorbed by the cupel.

The cupellation being thus finished, the metal is allowed to cool slowly, and the disk or button which it forms is detached from the cupel.

The button is then flattened by a hammer; is annealed by bringing it to a red heat; is laminated by passing it between rollers; is again annealed; and is rolled loosely into a spiral or coil called a cornet. It is now ready for the process of quartation.

For this purpose, it is introduced into a matrass containing about 14 ounces of nitric acid at 22° of Baumé's hydrometer, and in this acid it is boiled for 10 minutes, as indicated by a sand-glass.

The acid is then poured off, and three-fourths of an ounce of stronger acid, at 32°, is substituted for it, in which the gold is boiled for 10 minutes.

This second acid is then also poured off, and another equal charge of acid of the same strength is introduced, in which the gold is kept for 10 minutes longer. It is then presumed that the whole of the silver has been removed, and the gold is taken out, washed in pure water, and exposed, in a crucible, to a red heat, for the purpose of drying, strengthening, and annealing it.

Lastly, the cornet of fine gold thus formed is placed in the assay balance, and the number of thousandths which it weighs expresses the fineness of the gold assayed, in thousandths.

TEST ASSAY.

To test the accuracy of this process, the following method is employed:

A roll of gold, of absolute purity, which has been kept under the seal of the chairman of the assay commissioners, is opened in their presence, and from it is taken the weight of 900 parts. To this are added 75 of copper and 25 of silver, so as to form, with the gold, a weight of 1000 parts of the exact legal standard. This is passed through the same process of assay as the other gold, and at the same time. After the assay is finished, it is evident that the pure gold remaining ought to weigh exactly 900. If, however, from any cause, it be found to differ from this weight, and therefore to require a correction, it is assumed that the same correction must be made in the other assays, and this is done accordingly.

ASSAY OF SILVER COINS.

PRINCIPLES OF THE OPERATION.

The standard silver. of the United States is so constituted that of 1000 parta by weight 900 shall be of pure silver, and 100 of copper.

The process of assay requires that the exact proportion of silver in a given weight of the compound be ascertained, and this is done by a method called the humid assay, which may be explained as follows:

The silver and copper may both be entirely dissolved in nitric acid; and if to a solution thus made another of common salt in water be added, the silver will be precipitated in the form of a white powder, which is an insoluble chloride, while the copper will remain unaffected.

Now it has been ascertained that 100 parts by weight of pure salt will con