CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



and their relations to each other. When we find the mechanical 

 properties of the air made a distinct science, under the name of 

 pneumatics ; the chemical properties in the different pages of the 

 book of chemical science ; the relative actions of the air in difterent 

 parts of the world, and at different seasons of the year, discussed as 

 portions of physical geography ; and its relations to moisture, heat, 

 and motion, designated as " the weather," and its use in the econo- 

 my of plants and animals, regarded as a separate science, under the 

 name of meteorology — extensive as this list undoubtedly appears, it 

 contains only a few of those divisions and subdivisions into which, 

 for the purposes of accurate science, it is necessary to arrange the 

 doctrine of the air. How deeply indebted, then, ought we to be to 

 an author, who transfers to the general reader as much of this 

 knowledge and its results, as shall suffice for the purposes of ra- 

 tional conversation and right understanding of the varied appear- 

 ances and changes of the atmosphere, and their effects upon the 

 living world ? The plan which the ingenious author has adopted 

 he has thus developed : — " I have taken first in order those proper- 

 ties of the atmosphere which ap])ear to be the most simple, and the 

 most in accordance with our common modes of thinking and express- 

 ing ourselves ; and having done so, I have endeavoured to see how 

 far each one would carry us in the connection with that nature, the 

 general understandiiii^ of which is, of course, the ultimate object in 

 all inquiries of this kind ; and, if I found that recurrence to any one 

 subject would either help to explain another, or serve to point out 

 the general connection, I have not hesitated in making thai recur- 

 rence; though, as I have not, to my knowledge, attempted a double 

 explanation of the same phenomenon, those recurrences will not be 

 found to have the character of repetitions. After all the care I have 

 tak^n, it is probable that the work may be faulty, even so far as it 

 goes j and from the limits within which, in point of mere space, I 

 had to confine it, it must of necessity fall short of the very elements 

 of the subject. But I believe that, in plan, and partially, also, in 

 subject, it is entirely new ; and though novelty is no pica of justi- 

 fication for error, one does not get so smoothly or rapidly over the 

 ground when the path is untrodden." 



The third volume is that dedicated to '' T^E Heavens ;" and, 

 although the subject is necessarily of a higher order, we here find 

 all the raciness, well-disposed arrangement, and extensive research, 

 of its companions. Fully convinced, the author asserts, that there 

 is a popular road to the knowledge of the heavenly system, which is 

 both short and easy, he has endeavoured to make this volume a fin- 

 ger-post in this delightful path. " I have done so," be states, " not 

 by describing the end to be arrived at, but by attempting to describe 

 the way ; and I have endeavoured, regardless of whether I myself 

 shall or shall not be considered informed upon the subject, to lay 

 hold of and explain, with some breadth of expression, and with as 

 much familiarity of style as appeared at all consistent with the na- 

 ture of the subject, those great principles which I have found, by 



