34/6 Analysu of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



To draw public attention to such a state of things, — to give to the use- 

 ful and scientific arts the same fashion which the fine arts have so long cn»- 

 joyed, — to collect from every corner of the island into its three metropoli- 

 tan cities its unseen and its unhonoured inventions, — and to draw genius 

 from its obscure retreats, would be a few of the effects of a biennial exhi- 

 bition of British industry. The Society of Arts for Scotland has been 

 struggling to accomplish this by their own means and exertions, but pub- 

 lic aid and royal patronage are absolutely necessary to its success ; and un- 

 less the plan is laid at the foot of the throne by some influential indivi- 

 duals, it will never be effected ; and we must continue to brook the morti- 

 fication, bitter as it is, of witnessing the triumphs of the arts in every land 

 but the land which we love. 



Art. XX.— analysis OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS AND ME- 

 MOIRS. 



I, A new System of Chemical Philosophy. Part First of Vol. ii. By John 

 Dalton, F. R. S. &c. Manchester, 1827. 



The author informs us that about the half of this volume was printed ten 

 years ago, and that the rest was sent scrap by scrap to the printer till the 

 time it appeared. Owing to this unhappy arrangement, many of the re- 

 sults, which would have been important, had they been published some 

 years ago, have now, in consequence of improved modes of analysis 

 and more refined manipulation, been superseded by experiments of greater 

 accuracy. The present volume, nevertheless, contains various interesting 

 observations, and bears the stamp of that original mind for which Mr Dal- 

 ton is distinguished. A short review of it, therefore, cannot fail to prove 

 acceptable to our chemical readers. 



Mr Dalton in the volume before us treats oi compounds of two elements j 

 and he divides it into six sections ; the first on oxides ; the second on 

 sulphurets ; the third on phosphurets ; the fourth on carburets ; the fifth 

 on alloys ; and the sixth on triple alloys. The volume is concluded by 

 an appendix, containing corrections on his former volumes in consequence of 

 new discoveries ; and some remarks on recent investigations on heat. We 

 intend to take such a review of these several parts of Mr Dalton's work as 

 will enable the reader to judge of the merits and interest of its contents. 



Section on the Oxides. — Mr Dalton enumerates six methods for ascertain- 

 ing the proportion in which oxygen combines with a metal ; first, by com- 

 bustion in air or in oxygen ; second, by solution in an acid and subsequent 

 precipitation by an earth or alkali ; third, by precipitating one metal by 

 another, whereby oxygen is thus said to be transferred from the one to the 

 other ; fourth, by the hydrogen evolved in solution by an acid ; fifth, by 

 transferring a lower oxide into a higher by means of a solution of oxymu- 

 riate of lime (bleaching powder;) and sixth, by the nitrous gas evolved 

 during solution in nitric acid, " The first four methods have been Ased 

 by chemists for several years past ; the two last I have added from my owi> 

 experience, having found them very useful assistants in various instances. 



