Foreign Literature and Science, 187 . 
2. As far as T have been able to determine the tempera. 
ture of compressed water, and I have done so. to the extent 
of forty eight atmospheres, I have found no heat disengaged 
by compression, __ ‘ 
3, The compression of mercury is but little more than a 
millionth of its volume for one atmosphere. 
4. The, compressibility of sulphuric xther is about triple 
that of alcohol, double that of sulphuret of carbon, but equal 
only toa third of that of water, 
aa compressibility of water, holding salts, alkalies and. 
acids in solution, is less than that of pure water, 
_ 6. fhe compressibility of glass is excessively smal], and 
far below that of mercury.—Jbid. 
38. Probability of Life. Comparative results deduced 
from Registers kept at Geneva, and calculations made by 
Dr. Odier.—It appears from these registers that the proba- 
and that children are now preserved in a very remarkable 
proportion. These successive improvements will be obvious 
from the following table. 
Probability, _ | Proportion, _ Average life. Proportion. 
Yrs. Months, Yrs. Months. 
16th century, 4.2 100 16° <3 100 
17th do. .. a0 1662 <a 4 1263 
1701 to 1760, ris 3 5732 32 8 1 772 
1761 to 1800, O2 4 6802 33 7 1821 
1801 to 1813, a 1D 7964 38 6 209 
1815 to 1826, 45 10 964°. 38 10 ea 02 
The probability of the life of women, has always been su- 
rior to that of men, and agreeably to a table prepared by 
- Odier, from the mortuary register of 1801 to 1813, mar- 
ried women and widows have a su eriority over others, with 
espect to the average of life in the ratio of 112;%, to 100, 
notwithstanding the risques of child birth. He estimates the 
number of women, who perish from this cause, to be one 
hundred and twenty five in ten thousand, or one to eighty. 
