1822.] Sixth Edition of his Si/stem of Chemistry, 243 



chemistry is taught no where in Great Britain except in London 

 and Edinburgh, he surely was not aware that the system of 

 medical education is exactly the same in Glasgow as in Edin- 

 burgh ; that the professors in Glasgow are at fully as much 

 pains, and that the number of medical students is increasing 

 annually at a rapid rate. He cannot have been aware that the 

 three last chemical professors in Edinburgh (Drs. Cullen, Black, 

 and Hope), had previously filled the chemical chair in Glasgow; 

 and that almost all the additions which these gentlemen made 

 to the science were made while they occupied a place in our 

 University. The chemical course of lectures in Glasgow occu- 

 pies six months, and the lectures are delivered on every day of 

 the week, except Sunday. A separate hour is devoted to exa- 

 mine the class, and even practical experimenting is not neg- 

 lected. Will Mr. Brande pretend that an equally extensive 

 course is given at the Royal Institution? 



The Review, which I am going to examine, is a most furious 

 attack upon me from beginning to end, and denies me all credit 

 whatever as an author, an experimenter, or a chemist. It is 

 made up of different kinds of accusations, which are mixed toge- 

 ther with some ingenuity and address ; but which I shall make 

 bold, notwithstanding the many witty sneers against my fond- 

 ness for scholastic divisions, to consider and refute under three 

 separate heads. 1 . I am accused of being utterly incapable of 

 writing Enghsh, and of beino; ignorant of the first principles of 

 arrangement. 2. I have made rndLuy false, statements of facts 

 partly to injure the reputation of Sir H. Davy, and partly to 

 promote my own absurd and erroneous chemical opinions. 

 3. My book is stuffed with innumerable errors into which I have 

 fallen from being unacquainted with the elements of the science 

 of chemistry. 



These are heavy charges indeed. But what opinion will my 

 readers form of the candour and gentlemanly feelings of Mr. 

 Brande, if I show that the Reviewer, in order to give a colour to 

 his accusations, has had recourse to direct falsehood, to pitiful 

 prevarication, and to the stale trick of raising into proofs of ig- 

 norance what he must have been perfectly aware were errors 

 of the press ? 



As my present object is not to make any attack upon Mr. 

 Brande, but merely to vindicate myself, I shall pass over his 

 introduction without animadversion ; though such is the ten- 

 dency to inaccuracy and misrepresentation that even there w^e 

 find both in abundance when perfectly uncalled for. What can 

 be more inaccurate than the statement that the French have 

 "been satisfied with a single elementary work on chemistry ; or 

 that no controversy, or w'ant of politeness, has existed in chemi- 

 cal discussions for a number of years back? The pages of his 

 own journal, not to go further, exhibit controversies of the most 

 virulent kind ; and gratuitous attacks upon the character and 



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