1864. | Chemistry. 743 
«x + y respectively. The speaker said that, for some years past, Sir 
Benjamin Brodie had been engaged in working out a new and strictly 
philosophical system of chemical notation by means of actual formule, 
instead of mere symbols; and Dr. Odling felt that he only expressed 
the general wish of the Section when he asked Sir Benjamin Brodie 
not to postpone the publication of his views for a longer time than was 
absolutely necessary. It becomes every day more and more important 
to render the present system of symbolic notation more precise in its 
meaning and consistent in its application, Many of its incongruities 
belong to the very lowest order of convention; such, for example, as 
the custom of distinguishing between the so-called mineral and organic 
compounds ; one particular sequence of symbols being used habitually 
in representing compounds of carbon, and an entirely different sequence 
of symbols in representing the more or less analogous compounds of 
all other elements. It is high time that such relics of the ancient 
superstition, that organic and mineral chemistry are essentially dif- 
ferent from one another, should be done away with. After a brief 
glance at synthetic chemistry, and isomerism, which was designated 
the chemical problem of the day, the President concluded by referring 
to the healthier state of mind in which now perhaps more than ever 
the first principles of chemical philosophy are explored. Speculation, 
indeed, is not less rife and scarcely less esteemed than formerly, but 
it is now seldom or never mistaken for ascertained truth. Scepticism, 
indeed, still prevails, but it is no longer the barren scepticism of 
contentment, but the fertile scepticism which aspires to greater and 
greater certainty of knowledge. 
Dr. Daubeny read a most exhaustive paper, “On the Bath Thermal 
Waters.” Under the impression that some of the benefit derived from 
the use of these waters might be due to the presence of some hitherto 
undiscovered principle latent in the waters, the lecturer had lately 
concentrated by evaporation considerable quantities of the water, and 
tested the residuum, with the view of ascertaining whether, besides the 
ingredients determined by previous analysts to exist in it, certain 
other principles might not also be present at least in infinitesimal 
quantities. He could, however, discover no traces of Fluorine, of 
Baryta, of Strontia, or of Lithia, although the very delicate method 
of spectrum analysis was employed to detect their presence. Phosphoric 
acid and bromine were, however, found to be present. The quantity 
of gas disengaged from the King’s Bath averaged 222 cubic feet in 
twenty-four hours, and the same phenomenon was observed at least a 
century and a half ago, showing that the disengagement of gas was by 
no means a recent occurrence, or one depending on merely adventitious 
causes. The gas on analysis was found to consist chiefly of nitrogen. 
If, therefore, the gas emitted were derived from atmospheric air, the 
latter must have parted with four-fifths of its oxygen before it reached 
the surface of the earth. This phenomenon is so much the more 
important, inasmuch as it is common to all natural hot-springs. The 
lecturer passed in review the different explanations which had been 
given to account for the origin of this gas, and gave it as his opinion 
