55 
Ordinary Meeting, February 20th, 1883. 
H. E. Koscoe, Ph.D., LL.D., F.RS., &c., President, in the 
Chair. 
A communication from Dr. Joule, F.RS., was read, on 
the use of lime as a purifier of the products of combustion 
of coal gas. 
The slaked lime is placed in a vessel the bottom of which, 
about one foot diameter, is slightly domed and perforated 
with fine holes. The vessel is suspended about six inches 
above the burner. It is found that a stratum of four or five 
inches of lime is sufficient to remove the acid vapours so far 
as to prevent them from reddening litmus paper. The lime 
seems in many respects to present important advantages 
over the zinc previously recommended. 
Mr. R D. Darbishire, F.G.S., read a ei Note upon the 
Mammoth Cave,” by Mr. G. Darbishire. 
After leaving the old “ blue grass ” formation* to the east 
* “ The cultivated district of central Kentucky, commonly known as 
Blue-grass District, is perhaps for its area the most beautiful rural dis- 
trict in America. The surface is undulating, large areas of the original 
forests have been cleared of their undergrowth, and produce a fine close 
sod, and in these wood-pastures are some of the finest flocks and herds in 
the world. It has happened to the writer to pass on several occasions 
from this region to the richest lands of middle England, or vice versa , 
and he has always been struck by the singular likeness of the two coun- 
tries. There is probably a closer resemblance between the surface of 
the country, the cattle, horses, the agriculture, and even the people of 
these two areas than any two equally remote regions in the world/’ — 
From General Account of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Geological 
Survey), vol. II. p. xi. 
Proceedings Lit. & Phil. Soc.— Vol. XXII.— No. 4— Session 1882-3, 
