no Literary and Philosophical Society. 



thing should have gone through so many stages. Clark 

 added lime to water already containing carbonic acid, and 

 this made a precipitate which not only consisted of the lime 

 added but also of the carbonate which was previously in 

 solution, added to a good deal of organic matter on certain 

 occasions. The ' putrefaction of water ' at sea was at one 

 time an alarming evil. People did not consider that pure 

 water could not putrefy, they did not separate the idea of 

 water from that of its contents. Henry's plan may still be 

 used with advantage in many places where the wells require 

 attention, although it is always better to seek a fresh supply 

 purified by nature. 



Mr. Henry and Dr. Barnes were the first Secretaries 

 of the Society, and in 1807 the former became President, 

 retaining this position during life, or to the year 1816. 



He was a man of clear mind, as his papers testify, ready 

 and practical. He read much, had a good knowledge of all 

 the science known at the time, and gave much attention to 

 history. His sympathies were active with his friends and 

 with the struggling public, arid he was one of the early 

 members of a society for the abolition of the African slave 

 trade, showing himself a true man and enlightened thinker 

 in his own house and active laboratory, as well as in the 

 public work of the increasing town, and in his aspirations 

 avoiding the narrowness of self by seeking liberty both in 

 this and in other countries. 



On June 27, 1781, a letter was read from James Massey, 

 Esq., to Mr. Bew, containing a new and simple method of 

 impregnating water with fixed air, with a drawing of the 

 apparatus, as well as for decomposing lime-water and 

 rendering putrid water sweet. 



Probably the non-publication of the paper is to be 



