78 SIXTH REPORT — 1836. 



press, and to which this general character seems to apply, that, 

 although more frequently replete with mystical and absurd hy- 

 potheses, than works of the same class in England, they display 

 in general greater research and a richer fund of scientific infor- 

 mation. 



Of general works, I may mention that of Scherer * on the mi- 

 neral waters of the Russian empire, which testify to this im- 

 portant fact, that there are neither thermal nor acidulated 

 springs in any part of that vast tract, till we approach the 

 mountains of the Caucasus and Oural, or the volcanos of Kam- 

 schatka. 



Professor Schuster f of the University of Pesth has lately 

 edited the elaborate work of Kitaibel on the Mineral Waters of 

 Hungary, which will be found to contain a very detailed, and 

 probably authentic, accoimt of their properties. 



But to the general reader the necessity of consulting these 

 local authorities will soon be superseded, by the appearance of 

 the treatise of Dr. Osann of Berlin ;{:, of which the two first 

 volumes have been already published. 



The first of these includes, a very complete sketch of the ge- 

 neral views, entertained, with respect to the nature and constitu- 

 tion of mineral and thermal springs, and a catalogue raisonn^ 

 of those best known, classified under their respective heads. 



The second volume is occupied by a detailed description, of 

 those of Germany, and some other contiguous countries, with 

 copious references to original sources of information. 



The whole appears to be compiled with great care and re- 

 search, and promises, when finished, to be the most complete 

 work extant on the subject. 



Since the appearance of the first volume of Dr. Osann's work, 

 Dr. Gairdner of Edinburgh has brought out a very compact, 

 and useful Manual, in the English language, on the same sub- 

 ject§. A large portion of its contents indeed are evidently ex- 

 tracted from Osann ; nor does it appear, that the author has 

 drawn much fi'om any stores of his own in the facts stated by 

 him. 



Nevertheless the multitude of details brought together, and 

 judiciously arranged in this little volume, ought to secure it a 

 place in every scientific library ; and the best proof I can fur- 



• Versuch der Heilquellen des Russischcn Reichs. St. Petersburg, 1820. 



•t Pauli Kitaihel Hydrographica Hungariee, edidit J. Schuster, Pesth, 1829- 



X Darstellung der hekannten Heilquellen Enropa's. Berlin, vol. i. 1829, vol. ii. 

 1832. 



§ Essay on the Natural History, 8fc. of Mineral and TliPrmal Springs. Edin- 

 burgh, 18.32. 



