Prizes Offered by the Faculty for the Year 1896-97.

The prizes offered by the Faculty this year are in the main the same as last year, but there have been some changes. The George B. Sohier prize of two hundred and fifty dollars is for the first time offered for the best thesis presented by a candidate for honors in English or in modern literature. This is open to all undergraduates and resident graduates in the Graduate School, and also to students of Radcliffe College.

The Sales prize will for the first time be awarded to the best scholar in Spanish, to be determined on the basis of proficiency in Spanish composition. This prize is open to all undergraduates.

A Ropes prize of one hundred and fifty dollars is offered for the best essay upon "The Execution of the Duc d'Enghien." This prize can be competed for by all students of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

The regular Dante prize will not be offered this year, but in its place is offered a similar prize under different conditions. This prize is in Memoriam of Mr. C. S. Latham who was awarded the Dante prize in 1889-90. Mr. Latham died before the award was announced and his mother now desires to again offer for competition the prize adjudged to him. The competition will not only be open, as Dante prizes have been, to Harvard undergraduates and Harvard graduates of not more than three years' standing, but also to students and graduates of similar standing of any college or university in the United States. Next year the regular Dante prize will be resumed. The subjects proposed this year are:

1. Dante's obligations to Provencal and Old French poetry.

2. A discussion of the origin and character of Dante's philosophy of love.

3. A study of the existing translations of the Divine Comedy into English verse.

There are three prizes offered for essays in the field of political science, viz., the Toppan, Sumner, and Bennet prizes. The subjects for any of these three prizes may, within the limitations set down in the Catalogue, be chosen by each competitor, subject to the approval of the Committee on Prizes in Political Science. The proposed subject must be submitted to the Committee by March.

The following lists of subjects upon most of which prizes have been taken, will indicate the range of topics:

THE TOPPAN PRIZE.

1. Protection to young industries in the United States.

2. Town and county government in the United States.

3. The foundation and the prospects of the Dominion of Canada.

4. The original and dorived features of the Constitution of the United States.

5. Parliamentary government in France since 1869.

6. The Liberty and Free Soil parties in the Northwest.

THE SUMNER PRIZE.

1. The experience of the last half-century and the light it throws upon the possible general resort to arbitration as a substitute for war.

2. Great national armaments in time of peace; their causes, their continuance, the chances of their decline.

3. A historical sketch of the spread of the doc rine of the immunity of private property at sea and a discussion of its tendency to promote peace.

4. The light which experience throws upon the resort to arbitration as a substitute for war.

5. The European concert and the problem of universal peace.

THE BENNETT PRIZE.

1. The proper relations of the United States with Hawaii.

2. How should postmasters be selected?

3. The advantages and dangers to the United States of a powerful navy.

4. The effect of executive commissions on State government.

The Sargent prize for the best metrical translation of a passage from Horace is offered this year as usual. The passage set for translation is the eleventh Ode of the Third Book.

The announcement for the Bowdoin prizes has already been made in the CRIMSON.

The detailed regulations for all prizes, except the new ones, are the same as last year and may be found in the Catalogue.