lvi Mr. Pickering’s Eulogy on 
that, “at the surface of a fluid, the attraction of the particles, modified 
by the curvature of the surface and of the sides of the vessel which 
contains it, produces the capillary attraction; therefore these phe- 
nomena, and all those which Chemistry presents, correspond to 
one and the same law, of which now there can be no doubt.* The 
effects of the capillary action, then, being reduced to a mathematical 
theory, as the author further observes, “there is only wanting in this 
interesting branch of physical science a series of very accurate ex- 
periments, by means of which we may compare the results of the 
theory with nature.” ¢ 
But I must desist from further noticing the subjects of this great 
work in detail, and confine myself to a few general remarks upon 
the invaluable labors of Dr. Bowditch; who, by his Translation, first 
made the work accessible to all who speak the English language, in 
every quarter of the globe, and has accompanied it with a Commen- 
tary, which will still farther disseminate the important discoveries 
and speculations contained in it, by rendering them intelligible and 
familiar to great numbers of zealous students, whose comparatively 
slight attainments would, without such aid, have for ever debarred 
them from all use of the work. 
One of the first remarks suggested by an examination of the 
work of Dr. Bowditch is, that, although his able and copious Com- 
mentary takes the name and place of JVotes upon the original work, 
yet it not only contains elucidations of his author’s text, but includes 
a history of the progress of mathematical science, from the time of 
La Place’s original publication, more than thirty years ago, to the 
present day. 
Another valuable service rendered by Dr. Bowditch is the 
* Bowditch’s La Place, Vol. IV. p. 1006 — 1009. 
{ Ibid., Vol. IV. p. 1015. 
