In consequence of the great want of good fresh water in many of the maritime parts of France, the government some time since ordered some experiments to be made, upon an extensive scale, in order to ascertain how far seawater, when distilled, could be used with success. Little or no use had hitherto been made of water so prepared, except in long voyages, and chiefly then only as a matter of necessity. There are above two hundred leagues of seacoast in France, where, to the breadth of many miles, the inhabitants are compelled to make use of bad and impure water, which, in many cases, is injurious to the health of themselves and their animals. In similar cases, it was the custom of the ancients to construct cisterns; but these are not only expensive in themselves, but their utility depends upon the quantity of rain that falls; while upon the shores of the most barren places, nature has supplied a variety of vegetable matter, which, when dried, would not only serve as a fuel for the purposes of distillation, but from the ashes of which might be obtained a saline substance, sufficient to repay the expense of collecting, drying, and burning. Thus the fuel for the distillation of seawater would, in reality, cost nothing, while its preparation would employ many individuals, particularly women and children. Before, however, erecting any apparatus for this purpose, it was necessary to ascertain both the utility and salubrity of the water thus prepared. It is well known that Bougainville, Phipps, Homelin, &c. had employed this water with much success; but they, like most of the chemists of the last age, did not endeavour to imitate the process of nature in all its simplicity, but mixed various substances with the seawater, in order to take away or lessen the effect of the empyreuma arising from the distillation, and which was so unpleasant to the smell and taste. And it is this which in general renders sailors so averse to it, and excites a prejudice very unfavourable to the salubrity of distilled seawater. One of the great objects to be ascertained was, whether this disagreeable smell and taste was peculiar to seawater or arose from the act of distillation. In the month of July, last year, the king ordered some experiments to be made, upon a large scale, at the three ports of Brest, Rochefort, and Toulon. The instructions given were as follows: That a sufficient quantity of seawater should be distilled to prepare, for the space of a month, bread and other food for a certain number of criminals, who were employed on the works of these ports, and also to supply them with drink, keeping from them during that period every other liquid. Ten or twelve persons at each part voluntarily came forward and offered themselves for the experiment.