I *74 S.eaiuai&: 



coal ; but by being exposed for some time to the air, tlie dis- 

 tilled seawater loses this unpleasant quality, and then it does 

 not difier from fresh water derived from the purest source ; 

 and both have equally stood every chemical test to which they 

 have been exposed. The chemical properties of this water 

 having thus been determined, it remains to give an account of 

 the effects upon the individuals who underwent the experi- 

 ment. These are the principal results : 



Brest. During the first days, those who drank the water 

 complained of a weight upon the stomach. This indisposition, 

 which was the only one they experienced, soon decreased 

 upon taking exercise, and totally went off by an additional 

 ounce of biscuit added to their common ration. One of them, 

 on the 29th day, had a few symptoms, but which he himself 

 attributed to an indigestion, from some bacon he had eaten. 

 Eight individuals drank twenty-five pints a day, rather more 

 than three pints each. — (N. B. The French pint contains 

 very near fifty-seven cubic inches of English measure, and is 

 the regulation size for the claret or Bordeaux bottle" ; but in 

 general the bottles are rather smaller. The French pint is 

 therefore equal to rather more than nineteen-twentieths of an 

 English quart, wine measure.) 



Toulon. The results obtained at the arsenal of this town, 

 were not less decisive or satisfactory. The six persons who 

 made the experiment acquired a greater degree of freshness 

 in their appearance, and were much fatter. Their daily con- 

 sumption of distilled water was nine pounds (^poids de marc) 

 for drink, and eleven pounds for cooking. This is nearly the 

 same relative quantity as those at Brest. 



Rochefort. The experiments here have not been made 

 with the same regularity ; because the fifteen persons fixed 

 upon had all agreed to say that they were very ill. The two 

 principal ones complained of violent cholics and diarrhoeas ; 

 but the plot was discovered, and upon being put upon the sick 

 list, (A la diite,) they were laughed at by their companions. 

 No one of them was really indisposed ; on the contrary, many 

 thought they experienced some good effect in regard to some 

 infirmities under which they hud long laboured. 



