483 



a year; and if its use became general, the saving in fuel, 

 materials, and labour, would amount to the enormous sum of 

 £1,000,000 annually. 



At the Ystalyfera works the escaped gas is made service- 

 able in the conversion of pig into malleable iron ; and Mr. 

 Budd considers it extremely probable that the fuel consumed 

 in the blast furnaces will eventually be made available for all 

 the other purposes of the works. 



A brief discussion of a practical nature followed, in which 

 the Chairman, Mr. West, Mr. Ward, and another gentleman 

 took part. 



The next Paper read was — 



ON MALARIA AND DISINFECTANTS. BY JAMES HAYWOOD, 

 ESQ., OF SHEFFIELD. 



In applying the science of Chemistry to the explanation 

 of the various natural phenomena with which we are sur- 

 rounded, — in endeavouring to trace the manifestation of its 

 changes in vegetable and animal life, and to discover the 

 intricate decompositions which accompany these changes 

 under the direction of vitality, is a task which has been left 

 for modern chemists to prosecute and accomplish ; and 

 although the great cause by which these changes are effected 

 is at present entirely hid from our comprehension, we have 

 been able to acquire such an amount of knowledge of the 

 effects, that we can now explain many of those vital trans- 

 formations with a degree of certainty which cannot admit of a 

 doubt. The chemical changes which take place in the stomach 

 during digestion — many of those which occur in the blood 

 during its passage through the system — the constant decom- 

 position and re-formation of organised tissue in the body — is 

 no longer a matter of speculation. The balance has even 



