The absorption of gases by charcoal.—I

[In June, 1926, the Council of the Royal Society considered an application from Mr. S. Lenher for permission to print certain parts of Dr. R. A. Smith's paper on "The Absorption of Gases by Charcoal" on account of their historical interest. The paper had been formally read before the Society in January, 1863, but, acting on the advice of a referee, Council had published only a summary of the paper ('Proceedings,' vol. 12, p. 424 (1863), consigning the main manuscript to the Archives. Mr. Lenher wrote that "Dr. Smith's paper is of such historical importance for adsorption work that the printing of a considerable part of the original is now warranted," and suggested publishing the material from Dr. Smith's paper in the form of an historical note. Council felt that if the paper were to be published at all, it should appear in their own Proceedings,' for which it bad been originally submitted in 1862. Prof. Donnan and Mr. Lenher accordingly selected such parts as seemed to them most suitable for publication, and these appear herewith, followed by a short note by Mr. Lenher. An examination of the original manuscript of the paper males it clear that it was hardly suited for publication in the form in which it was submitted. No attempt was made to tabulate or summarise the results of the different groups of experiments, and the manuscript looks rather like a laboratory note-book. One of the experts to whom the paper bad been referred spoke of the experiments as being presented in a crude form which is far from attractive,' and continued: "The theoretical deductions at the end of the paper possess more interest, although rather vague and general; but they are borne down by the heavy matter with which they are associated."Doubtless it was this report which led Council originally to print only the summary with which the original paper ended.—J. H. J.]