246 Messrs, Bahhage and Hersckel on the [Oct . 



was his favourite subject, and which is found in every page of 

 his memoirs, was not, however, admitted by all the chemists of 

 tlie day. A chemist, whose recent loss the sciences still lament, 

 the learned author of the Statique Chimique, long disputed an 

 opinion which ill accorded with his ingenious theory of chemical 

 affinities ; and he disputed with so much sagacity, that he left 

 the question long undecided. 



The chemists, however, who afterwards occupied themselves 

 with the same subject, fully confirmed the opinion of Proust, 

 which has been greatly extended by the more exact knowledge 

 of the composition of a great number of bodies that has been 

 acquired. It is, in fact, one of the best demonstrated truths of 

 modern science, and it forms the basis of the atomic theory. 



We are undoubtedly far from having enumerated all the claims 

 to renown which belong to M. Proust; it would be necessary to 

 dedicate more room to it than can be allowed to a mere notice. 

 A Member of the Academy of Sciences, and of the Aca- 

 demy of Medicine, he will find in these two societies philoso- 

 phers who are more eloquent and more worthy than we to pay 

 that homage to his genius which is its due ; but it particularly 

 belongs to the editors of a journal dedicated to the professors of 

 pharmacy, to announce the loss which they have suffered, and 

 to strew the first flowers on the grave of so illustrious a philoso- 

 pher and so good a man. 



Article II. 



Abstracts of Papers in the Philosojjhical Transactions for 1825, 

 OH the peculiar Magnetic Effect induced in Iron, and on the 

 Magnetism manifested in other Metals^ <^c. during the Act of 

 Rotation. By Messrs. Barlow, Christie, Babbage, and 

 Herschel. 



{Concluded from p. 192.) 



Account of the Repetition of M, Arago*s Experiments on the 

 Magnetism manifested bj/ various Substances during the Act of 

 Rotation. By C. Babbage, Esq. FRS. and J. F. W. Herschel, 

 Esq. Sec. RS. (concluded.) 



When we come to reason on the above facts, much caution is 

 doubtless necessary to avoid over-hasty generalization. Whoever 

 has considered the progress of our knowledge respecting the 

 magnetic virtue, which, first supposed to belong only to iron 

 and its compounds, was at length reluctantly conceded to 

 nickel and cobalt, though in a much weaker degree — then 

 suspected to belong to titanium, and now extended, apparently 

 with an extraordinary range of degrees of intensity to all the 

 metals— will hardly be inclined to stop short here, but will 



