332 Analysis of Scientific Books. 



year, but that the Chinese year is in fact a lunar year, consisting 

 of twelve months of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately, 

 with the triennial intercalation of a thirteenth month to make, it 

 correspond more nearly with the sun's course. 



11. Experiments for ascertaining the Velocity of Sound at Madras in 



the East Indies. By J. Goldingham, Esq., F.R.S. 



This paper is so full of minute details, and abounds in such ex- 

 tended tables of results, that we shall not attempt to abridge the 

 data upon which its conclusions are founded. The mean velocity 

 of sound, deduced from the experiments is 1142.34 feet in a 

 second. 



12. On the Double Organs of Generation of the Lamprey, the Conger 

 Eel, the Common Eel, the Barnacle and Earthworm, fyc. By Sir E. 

 Home, Bt., V.P.R.S. 



It is impossible intelligibly to communicate to our readers the 

 curious contents of this paper, without the aid of the five magnifi- 

 cent plates engraved from Mr. Bauer's drawings, with which it is 

 illustrated. 



[The pressure of other matter, obliges us to postpone our ac- 

 count of the contents of the second part of the Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1S23, (published in November,) until our next 



Number.] 



V, The Elements of Experimental Chemistry. By William 

 Henry, M.D., F.R.S., &c. The ninth edition, comprehending all 

 the recent discoveries, and illustrated frith ten plates, by Lowry, 

 and several engravings on wood. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1823. 



The inertia of the human mind, and the power of prejudice, are 

 no where more conspicuous than in the pertinacity with which com- 

 pilers of scientific works continue in their successive editions to 

 retain their early classifications of facts, amid the revolutions of 

 the science itself. Having at first taken some pains to plan an 

 edifice, whose proportions and interior distribution they regarded 

 with complacency, they are unwilling to demolish and construct it 

 anew. For the most part, therefore, they content themselves with 

 some petty alterations in its exterior, which may harmonize it a 

 little with modern improvement, and with replacing the decayed 

 and obsolete furniture of some of the apartments, by other more 

 substantial and appropriate. 



