EMPYREUMA, em-pI-roo'rn4 (Gr. "a live coal preserved in ashes") the smell acquired by organic matter when subjected to the action of fire, but not enough to carbonize it entirely. The products of imperfect combustion, as from wood heated in heaps or distilled in close ves sels,. are frequently distinguished as empyreu matic.
EMS, emz Germany, a celebrated water ing place in the Prussian province of Hesse Nassau; on the river Lahn. The environs are beautiful. As early as 1583 it was a town of resort as a watering-place. The mineral waters at Ems are warm — from 70° to J33° F.; they are of the saline class, containing large quanti ties of carbonic acid gas, and are used with much effect in chronic catarrhs, pulmonary complaints and some other diseases. The his tory of the town dates back to the 9th century, and the lead and silver mines have been worked a number of years. Since 1865 the fame of the springs has overshadowed its industrial and trade advantages. It was here that the memor
able interview between the king of Prussia and the French ambassador, Benedetti, took place which formed the prologue to the Franco-Prus sian war of 1870-71. Pop. 6,519.
EMS, river of Germany, which rises at the southeast extremity of the Teutoburger-Wald, in Lippe-Detmold, flows northwest through Rhenish-Prussia and Hanover, . and into the Dollart, near Emden; length about 210 miles. It drains ant area of about 4,600 square miles. Its chief affluents are the Aa, the Haase, the Hessel, and the Leda, all from the east. It is navigable as far as Papenburg for light ves sels, .but it supplies water to numerous canals, which are used for both irrigation and naviga tion. In 1818 it was connected by a canal with the Lippe, and thus with the Rhine, and its im portance has been greatly increasedly the open ing of the Dortmund-Ems and other canals.