147 



the reach of even the poor man at a low price, beef, pork, game, fresh 

 and deHcate, from the favoured banks of the great American rivers." 



We have no right to expect a description of a patented process, 

 either in a public journal or in a private letter, but we must demur to 

 the explanation offered by the editor of the Cosmos as inconsistent with 

 known chemical facts. Neither carbonic acid nor carbonic oxide wiU 

 prevent the putrefaction of meat. Nor will the presence of proto- 

 sulphate of iron, or any other analogous salt, iu the way described, 

 prevent the decomposition of fruit. 



I wish it to be distinctly understood that I bring this subject for- 

 ward at present in compliance with the request of the secretary, and 

 some members of the Council, of the Literary and Philosophical Society, 

 who have observed the experiments, and regard them as important, but 

 not with a view of setting up a claim to priority. If M. Lamy has 

 done all that is described in the Cosmos he has indeed accomplished a 

 " wonder of wonders," which casts into the shade my comparatively 

 imperfect experiments. Under these circumstances, a claim on my 

 part to priority, grounded on the mere fact of publishing first, would 

 be simply ridiculous. The expression " je serai heureux de faire 

 reconnaitre votre priorite" in the Abbe's letter is his own voluntary 

 offer, for which I am in no way responsible. 



It would afford me great pleasure to see the preparations of M. 

 Lamy, and to congratulate him personally on the brilliant results of 

 his experiments. It is gratifying to me to know that I have been 

 engaged in the same field of research, guided by the same kind of 

 reasoning, and although, apparently, with greatly inferior success, 

 using, probably, the same means to accomplish the same ends. It 

 would have been an additional gratification if the editor of the Cosmos, 

 who had my papers so long in his possession before writing his eulogium 

 on M. Lamy's labours, had, even incidentally, made allusion to mine. 



This paper was followed by one on " Constantine Pal.eologus, the 

 Last of the Bizantine Empeeoks," by Charles Mill ward, Esq., who 

 furnished an interesting description of the events preceding the con- 

 quest of Constantinople by the Turks, in 1453. He dwelt at 

 considerable length upon the private career of the last Greek Emperor, 

 and pointed out various errors and omissions by our native historians. 



Mr. Towson offered some laudatory remarks, and informed the 

 meeting that he had witnessed the exhumation of the body of Theodora, 

 the last descendant of the Pala3ologi, who had married an English 

 gentleman, and spent her remaining days in a small town in Cornwall, 

 wliere her Ijody lies buried. 



