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bable that they are necessary for our well-being. Bad smells are 

 generally, however, indications that their sources should be 

 avoided. And hence the means of decomposing and destroying 

 the bad smells which are produced in crowded cities is a useful 

 subject of knowledge. Charcoal, chloride of lime, sulphurous 

 acid, carbolic acid, &c, are some of the most important of these 

 deodorizers. Much ill-health is the consequence of bad gases 

 existing in the air of our large towns. Every atom of decomposing 

 vegetable and animal matter, every sewer is the generator of these 

 poisons. The source should be destroyed. Let our corporations 

 hold out inducements to our scientific men to pay attention to 

 these things, and the day will not be far distant when our cities 

 will be provided with their great laboratories to utilize their sewage 

 and refuse, and build up new and useful fabrics from the dead, the 

 decaying, and the deadly. 



On Wednesday evening, 23rd February, a lecture was delivered 

 by Dr. Andrews, F.R.S., giving an account of his researches on 

 the " Continuity of the Liquid and Gaseous states of Matter." In 

 the introductory remarks he referred briefly to the views of the 

 ancients regarding the constitution of matter, more particularly of 

 the Epicurean school, as expounded by Lucretius ; to the discovery 

 of the weight of the atmosphere by Galileo ; to the doctrine of 

 latent heat, as expounded by Black ; and to Dalton's able investi- 

 gation of the properties of vapours. The lecturer then described, 

 in detail, the fine experiments by which Faraday succeeded in 

 reducing to the liquid state a large number of bodies, previously 

 known only in the form of gases. The first experiments of the 

 lecturer were published in 1861, and the apparatus employed was 

 exhibited to the meeting, and applied to the condensation of 

 carbonic acid gas. This apparatus was constructed by W. J. 

 Cumine, to whose good ability and rare mechanical skill Dr. 

 Andrews referred in the highest terms. 



Two years later the remarkable observation was made, that 

 when carbonic acid is partially liquefied by pressure, and the tem- 



