The Nobel Foundation is based upon the last will and testament of Dr. Alfred Bernhard Nobel, engineer and inventor of dynamite, dated November 27, 1895, the stipulations of which, respecting this fund, are as follows:

"The rest of my fortune, that is, the capital realized by my executors, is to constitute a fund, the interest of which is to be distributed annually as a prize to those who have in the course of the previous year rendered the greatest services to humanity. The amount is to be divided into five equal parts, one of which is to be awarded to the person who has made the most important discovery in the domain of physical science; another part to the one who has made the most valuable discovery in chemistry or brought about the greatest improvement; the third to the author of the most important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine; the fourth to the one who has produced the most remarkable literary work of an idealist tendency, and finally the fifth to the person who has done the best or the most in the cause of the fraternity of nations, for the suppression or the reduction of standing armies as well as for the formation and propagation of peace congresses. The prizes will be awarded for physics and chemistry by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; for works in physiology or medicine by the Caroline Institute of Stockholm; for literature by the Stockholm Academy, and finally for the service in the cause of peace by a Committee of five members of the Norwegian Storthing. It is my express desire that the benefits of the foundation are to be open to all nationalities and sexes and that the prize be awarded to the one most worthy, whether Scandinavian or not."

Each prize will amount to about $40,000, and the corporation will designate a "Comite Nobel" composed of three or five members for each section, with headquarters at Christiania, Norway.

The Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, awards the Physics and Chemistry Prizes; the Caroline Medical Institute, Stockholm, awards the Prize for Physiology or Medicine; the Swedish Academy in Stockholm awards the Literature Prize; and the Peace Prize is awarded by a Committee of five persons elected by the Norwegian Storthing. No consideration is paid to the nationality of the candidates, but it is essential that every candidate shall be proposed in writing by some qualified representative of science, literature, etc., in the chief countries of the civilized world, such proposals to reach the Committee before the first of February in each year, the awards being made on the following 10th of December. Nobel Institutes are to be established in each of the five departments, to carry out scientific investigations as to the value of the discoveries and improvements, and to promote the other objects of the Foundation.

The first distribution of prizes took place in 1901, the awards being: Peace, MM. Dunant and Passy; Medicine, Dr. Behring, of Marburg; Chemistry. Prof. J. H. van 't Hoff, Berlin; Physics, Prof. Rontgen; and Literature, M. Sully Prudhomme.

The 1902 Prizes were awarded as follows: Literature, Prof. Theodor Mommsen, of Berlin; Peace, MM. Ducommun and Gobat (Switzerland); Medicine, Major Ronald Ross, of the School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool; Chemistry, Prof. Emil Fischer, of Berlin; Physics, divided between Profs. Lorentz and Zeemann, of Holland.

The 1903 Prizes were awarded thus: Peace, Mr. W. R. Cromer, M. P.; Literature, M. Bjornson; Medicine, Prof. Finsen. of Copenhagen; Physics, Prof. Becquerel, of Paris, and Mme. Curie, of Paris; Chemistry, Prof. Arrhenius, of Stockholm.

All information can be obtained from Nobelstiftelsen, Stockholm, or as to the Peace Prize, from the Comite Nobel Norvegien, Victoria Terrasse, 7, III., Christiania.