Reviews, and Notices respecting New Books. 463 



for about half an hour, with very small change of position. At Cam- 

 bridge it was seen about a degree south of the Pleiades, directed 

 to a point three or four degrees south of a Cygni, and therefore 

 north of a Arietis : at York it was seen four degrees south of the 

 Pleiades and south of a Arietis, passing between a Arietis and Ju- 

 piter. On tracing these directions on a celestial globe, it appeared 

 that they both met the horizon at a point about twenty-six degrees 

 north of the east ; and the Professor's conclusion was that this was 

 a horizontal arch seen according to the rules of perspective in these 

 different positions at York and Cambridge. If so, it was probably 

 seen as an arch in some country to the east or north-east of us. At 

 Brussels, the only place from which any account had been received, 

 the weather was cloudy. The principal arch was seen to become 

 double at the same time at Cambridge and at York; and the undu- 

 lations or pulsations of light commenced at the same time at both 

 places. The Professor pointed out as a phaenomenon probably of 

 great importance in reasoning on the physical cause of these flashes, 

 and which he had verified witli care in this and in a previous in- 

 stance, that the successive flashes always illuminated the same 

 portions of the heavens, the light passing in the order of upwards 

 over these portions. 



This communication was followed by oral remarks from several 

 of the members present. 



LXXIII. Reviews, and Notices respecting New Books. 



The Analysis of Inorganic Bodies. By J. J. Berzelius. Translated 

 from the French Edition by G. O. Rees. 



THE fame of Berzelius with respect to all that is practical in 

 chemistry, and especially in analysis, is fixed upon too firm a 

 basis to need any commendation. Mr. Rees, in translating this work 

 on analysis, has performed a useful task for those who are unac- 

 quainted with the language of the o iginal or with the French. 



This treatise forms a part of Berzelius's large work on Chemistry, 

 and is contained in the eighth volume of the French translation 

 lately completed. In the original it appears to have been in the 

 second volume, and not the twelfth, as Mr. Rees has by mistake 

 translated deuxihne, from the French editor's advertisement. 



The r.otes which Mr. Rees has added, though not numerous, will 

 in general be found useful, and we especially approve of his pre- 

 ference of Dr. Christison's method of detecting arsenic to that of 

 Berzelius (p. 117.). 



The translation, which we have in many parts compared with the 

 French original, is in general correct, and the faults which we 

 have noticed mostly arise from an attempt to be almost literal ; thus 

 in page 3, " quon souffle soi-meme" is rendered by "self-blown" 

 which does not express the intended meaning. 



Again, in page 37, note, Mr. Rees says M In all cases the oxide 

 must be dissolved after calcination, in order to be sure that it does 

 not contain sulphuric acid." Now from this it might be supposed 



