next in merit, shall, after the preceding one, be worthy of the adoption and applauses of the public.
A grant to that effect having been obtained from his excellency the viceroy, the medals will be struck in the royal mint. In addition to the arms of the Society, and the hieroglyphics allusive to the subject, a short inscription will explain the motive 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 desirous to do so, may see and examine them. This publicity, which would be ridiculous in Europe, we deem necessary, to protect 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 examined by thirteen persons well known to possess a theoretical and practical knowledge of the subject proposed; six to be selected from among the members of the Society, and the remaining seven from the body of the literati of the capital. Contrary to the expectations of the Society, not any dissertation was sent, with the exception of one from Chachapoyas, in the mountainous territory, whence little was to be expected. This dissertation possessed some degree of merit, but not such as to entitle it to either of the honorary rewards the Society had proposed.
