M Dr. Turner'^ Elements of Chemistry, 



cat Manipulation, a work hitherto exceedingly wanted in 

 the laboratory, equally useful to the proficient and to the 

 student, and eminently creditable to the industry and skill 

 of the author, and to the school whence it emanates. We 

 shall of course take an early opportunity of introducing this 

 book in a more formal way to the attention of our chemical 

 readers. 



In looking over Dr. Turner's first and second sections on 

 caloric and light, in the Elements now before us, we find 

 little but brevity to complain of; — there are, however, one 

 or two trifling historical inaccuracies : thus, at page 14, the 

 discovery of invisible heating rays is ascribed to Saussure 

 and Pictet ; but it is, in fact, of much more remote origin — • 

 it was well known to the Florentine academicians, and we 

 may even trace the idea in Lucretius, (De Rerum Naturd^ 

 lib. V. 1. 609.) 



Forsitan et rosea Sol alte lampade lucens 

 Possideat multum ccecis fervoribus ignem 

 Circum se, nullo qui sit fulgore notatus, <^c. 



At page 31 we have an account of Wedgwood's pyrome- 

 ter, which is said to be *' little employed at present, because 

 its indications cannot be relied on ;" — the fact is, that it is 

 never used, and that we owe to Sir James Hall ample rea- 

 sons for placing no confidence in it. 



The subject of specific heat is clearly explained, and so are 

 the phenomena of liquefaction and evaporation. In regard 

 to the constitution of gases, the author remarks, that the ex- 

 periments of Sir H. Davy and Mr. Faraday on the liquefac- 

 tion of gaseous substances, appear to justify the opinion that 

 gases are merely the vapours of extremely volatile liquids. 

 Mr. Faraday has proved this in regard to several of the gases, 

 and analogy leads us to apply it to the rest ; — but what share 

 Sir H. Davy had in the discovery, we know not ; for Mr. Fa- 

 raday actually condensed chlorine into a liquid before Sir H. 

 had heard or thought about the matter. Light, and its 

 phenomena as connected with chemistry, is superficially 

 passed over in the second section, and the third brings us 

 to the important article '* Electricity." 



We are willing to admit that the subject of electricity is 

 a very difficult one for the chemist to deal with — he must 

 necessarily say much upon it, and is equally obliged to omit 

 abstract details which are often necessary to its explanation, 

 and yet too prolix and bulky for an elementary chemical 

 work. So that it requires considerable acquaintance with 

 the subject to give a perspicuous and yet concise abstract, 



