378 Comparative Value of Fuel. 



in some places a little obscure, but it is entirely free from 

 those speculative and hypothetical wanderings which are too 

 characteristic of the German school of physiology ; and 

 though it contains some systematic notions in which we cannot 

 acquiesce, and a few new words, not the most harmonious in 

 the world, it may very safely and properly be recommended 

 to the student as a text-book, and to the proficient as a work 

 of reference. The plates by which it is illustrated are upon 

 an economical scale, sometimes rather too small to be distinct, 

 but they are otherwise accurate and carefully drawn ; and 

 we are aware that it is impossible to obviate these objections 

 without incurring such expense as would probably render 

 the work inaccessible to those readers for whom it is princi- 

 pally compiled . 



Mr. Gore has assiduously and faithfully executed the 

 difficult task of translation, and has added no inconsiderable 

 quantity of new and important matter in the form of notes, 

 rendering the English work more complete, and upon many 

 points much more satisfactory than the original. 



Exferiments to determine the Comparative Value of the 

 principal varieties of Fuel used in the United States, and 

 also in Europe, and on the ordinary Apparatus used for 

 their Combustion. By Marcus Bull. Philadelphia and 

 London, 1827. 

 The population of London and its immediate environs may 

 be estimated at about two millions, and the annual con- 

 sumption of coals within the same district does not fall far 

 short of two millions of chaldrons, or seventy-two millions 

 of bushels. Of this prodigious quantity of inflammable 

 matter, a very considerable portion escapes combustion, and 

 lodges in the form of soot in our chimneys, or is vomited forth 

 to contaminate and cloud the atmosphere of the metropolis : 

 so great is this loss, that independent of the mere advantage 

 of getting rid of smoke, its prevention is an important eco- 

 nomical problem ; and though the rage for smoke-burning 

 has passed over, we are quite certain that the subject still 

 deserves the most serious attention, being convinced that, of 

 the fuel consumed in the ordinary processes of warming our 

 houses and cooking food, at least one-third is uselessly 

 thrown away, and might be saved by a more economical 

 and scientific construction of common grates and fire-places. 

 All useful and well-conducted experiments, therefore, in 



