126 Anafi/sk of Scientific Books. 



and afterwards enter on a chemical examination of nature. As 

 in every sheet of his four volumes, he violates the rules of induc- 

 tive logic, we cannot suppose him versant in the great work of 

 Lord Bacon. Had he read the first aphorism, he would never 

 have ventured on so vicious a division of chemistry. " Homo 

 naturae minister et interpres, tantum facit et intelligit, quantum 

 de naturae ordine, re, vel mente, observaverit : ?zec amplius scit aut 

 potest." Hence, if his first part be not an examination of nature, 

 it is vvorthless. Why should ulmin, nicotin, emetin, asparagin, 

 cerasin, inuHn, starch, indigo, gluten, poUenin, fibrin, ohvile, 

 medullin, fungin, and all his other ins, be discarded from the 

 science of chemistry, p?'operZy so called; while morphia, strychnia, 

 brucia, picrotoxia, delphia, the acids, benzoic, boletic, moroxylic, 

 meconic, oxalic, mellitic, citric, isaguric, krameric, ellagic, 

 gallic, with tannin, oils, fats, bitumens, end many other native 

 products, are all removed from his chemical examination of 

 nature ? The consequence of this violent disruption and dislo- 

 cation of objects, naturally allied in their origin and composition, 

 is a perplexity and prolixity, disgusting to the reader, and worthy 

 of the darkest days of the schoolmen, from whose endless arti- 

 ficial distinctions Dr. Thomson's are manifestly copied. 



He has reprinted the preface of 1817, in which he says, 

 " concerning the arrangement which I have adopted, it appears 

 unnecessary to say much. It is merely an improvement of the 

 arrangement, followed in the preceding editions of this work. " 

 We agree in thinking, that it is not for the Doctor's interest, 

 " to say much " about his arrangements ; but we differ entirely 

 as to the pretended improvement. It is, on the contrary, a de- 

 terioration, as we shall presently prove. In a brief " adver- 

 tisement to the sixth edition," he says, " the additions have 

 been very numerous, and will be found of considerable import- 

 ance." Now, we find the additions to be trifling, and for the 

 most part unimportant. Of the 260tf pages contained in his 

 four volumes, there are not fifty new written ; while the grossest 

 errors and mis-statements are reprinted from the former edition, 

 with book-making despatch. Indeed we are at a loss to leara 

 why a new edition has come forth. It was not spontaneously 

 called for, and nothing but a decidedly superior work should have 

 b,e.en tendered to the public. Instead of which, the present book 

 is, relative to the actual state of the science which it professes to 

 represent, incomparably worse, and more defective than any pre- 

 ceding edition. In every thing regarding the philosophy of che- 

 mistry, or the developement of general principles, it is ten years 

 behind. Even the atomic theory, which Mr. Dalton placed under 

 his protection, is expounded in a confused and partial manner. 



We shall now proceed to support these allegations by indi- 

 vidual examples. His introduction is a poor specimen of compo- 

 sition. " As soon as man begins to think, and to reason, the 



