340 Analysis of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



tleman who possesses every qualification for the task. To the readers of this 

 Journal, who already know Dr Turner from his original researches and 

 able analyses, it is unnecessary to state, that to a knowledge of all the re- 

 finements of modern chemistry, he adds a thorough acquaintance with the 

 difficult art of chemical analysis 1 — an art which he had the good fortune to 

 study under the celebrated Stromeyer. His experience, too, as a lecturer 

 on chemistry, has familiarized him with the methods of communicating in- 

 struction, and completed his qualifications for composing an elementary 

 work on chemistry. 



A work like the present, embracing the whole range of chemical science, 

 is not a proper subject of minute analysis, and therefore we shall content 

 ourselves with giving a general outline of its contents. Works of elemen- 

 tary instruction should be so composed as to present the facts and doctrines 

 of a science in as concise and condensed a form as is consistent with clear- 

 ness and precision; and we must admit that almost every page of the pre- 

 sent volume bears internal evidence that its author has never lost sight of 

 this principle. 



We cannot do better, in order to convey an exact idea of the views which 

 have guided Dr Turner in the composition of this work, than let him speak 

 for himself. *' The following pages comprehend a condensed view of the 

 present state of chemical science. The chief purpose of the work is to make 

 the student intimately acquainted with the theory at the same time that 

 he is acquiring a knowledge of the facts of chemistry ; so that, by the es- 

 tablishment of fixed principles, the details may more easily be impressed 

 on the memory, and excite an interest which they would not otherwise 

 possess. Every one who is acquainted with modern chemistry, will admit 

 that the study of the laws of combination is fitted in a peculiar manner for 

 promoting these objects ; and hence, 1 have treated at length of the atomic 

 theory, and the subjects connected with it, at an early part of the volume. 



" To this arrangement, I am aware, it may be objected, that many of 

 the facts adduced as illustrations must necessarily be unknown to the be- 

 ginner. I do not anticipate, however, any serious inconvenience from that 

 source ; on the contrary, some experience in teaching the theoretical and 

 practical details of the science, gives me reason to think that the disadvan- 

 tages of my plan will be very far outweighed by its advantages. I may ob- 

 serve, indeed, that this work is chiefly designed for persons who have ei- 

 ther attended or are attending lectures on chemistry ; and to such readers 

 the objection to which I allude does not apply." 



Dr Turner appears to us to have accomplished this part of his undertak- 

 ing in a way which cannot fail to facilitate the study of chemistry in a very 

 material degree. We are acquainted with no work, not excepting our best 

 systems of chemistry, which communicates such a clear and complete ac- 

 count of the doctrine of combining proportions, and gives the atomic expla- 

 nation of individual facts in so full and intelligible a form, as will be found 

 in the volume before us. 



Dr Turner has divided his work into four parts. 



Theirs* is on the imponderables, and comprehends an account of calo- 

 ric, light, electricity, galvanism, and electro-magnetism. 



