244. [Oct. 5, 
tobinson.] 
Land and Sea Air,’ is of interest, as the earliest exam- 
ple of such a research on our records, It relates the 
results of twenty-seven analyses of air made by the 
author at sea, in a voyage across the Atlantic, and also 
the comparison of these results with other analyses 
made by him on land, near Philadelphia, by.which 
comparison he reaches the conclusion that the air over 
the sea is purer than that over the land; that, while 
the latter varies with locality, the former is nearly con- 
stant ; and he then ventures the suggestion that ‘ per- 
haps the impurities are absorbed by the agitation of 
the waves,’ a conclusion to which modern investiga- 
tion, by the use of more exact methods, has also 
arrived. Considering the imperfect condition of 
eudiometric methods in Seybert’s time, his research 
and conclusions therefrom are decidedly creditable to 
his skill and sagacity.” 
The mother of Henry Seybert was Maria Sarah, 
daughter of Henry Pepper, Esq., of Philadelphia, one 
of its wealthy and respected citizens. Mrs, Seybert 
died during the early infancy of her son, and the care 
of him in infancy, and responsibility of his whole edu- 
cational training, thereby devolved exclusively on his 
father, who remained a widower until his death, in 
Paris, on the 2d of May, 1825. 
I met there a few days after the death of his father, 
Mr. Henry Seybert, who had accompanied him to 
Paris, and been there his constant companion and 
solace, during the critical disease which ended his 
