528 Acemiit cf Boch.—Correfpoiidttice. 



The Medical Repofitory, Vol. I. Nos. I. and II. o£lavo. The two numbers contaiii 

 287 pages', clofely printed. New-York, primed for T. and J. Swords. 



The authors and editors of this work arc Doctors Samuel L. Mitchill, Mcmbtr of the 

 Leglflativc Aflcnibly of the State of New-York^ F.R.S. Edin. Profcflbr of Chemiftry in Co- 

 lumbia College, and Dodors Edward Miller, and E. H. Smith, of New- York. The firft 

 Number appeared in July 1797, and tlie fecond in the cionth of November laft. It is in- 

 tended to be publiflicd in quarterly numbers of at lead 100 oiflavo pages each, at the price 

 of half a dollar per number. It confifts of medical eflays or communications, a review of 

 new publications, not only fuch as are ftri£lly medical, but alfo thofe which relate to agri- 

 culture and other branches of n.Uural hiftory, phllofophy, &c. or may be in any manner 

 related to the obje<fls contemplated in the plan of a medical repofitory; and la illy, medi- 

 cal fads, hints, enquiries, and news. 



It is a well known fad, that the public will not aflift in any periodical work until they 

 have received proof, for a certain length of time, of the accuracy, fpirit, and ability, with 

 wliich the condudors are able from their own fources, whether original or derivative, to 

 fupport it. A work of the kind before us is peculiarly calculated for the dilTufion of know- 

 ledge in a country like America, where, from various circumftances, the written fources 

 of intelledual acquifition .ire much more limited than in Europe. It is equally calcula- 

 ted to accelerate improvement in the whole of that confiderable part of the globe, wherein 

 the language of England is current. The prefent numbers fliew no want either of ability 

 or induftry on the part of the authors, and will, it is to be hoped, meet the fuccefs they 

 merit. 



MY young correfpondent from Liverpool has (hewn confiderable ability in his medita- 

 tions and conjedures on the many important chemical fads he mentions. When fads 

 can be fo difpofed as by mutual illuftration to prove an entire theory, the individual who 

 makes the arrangement, may, perhaps, do more for the advancement of fcience, than the 

 performer of many folitary experiments: but when this cannot be done, the chief ufc 

 of imperfed conclufions or conjedures muft be to point out new and dccifive experiments. 

 W. S. may fupport the hope of making fuch experiments, by refleding that the greateft 

 difcoveries have been made by men who did not poflefs the means of acquiring much ap- 

 paratus. Apothecaries' phials, Florence flalks, bafons, cups, faucers, a blow-pipe and 

 charcoal, common tobacco-pipes and garden-pots, as fubftitutes for crucibles and a fur- 

 nace, and the ordinary bellows, together with a few chemjcal materials, would con- 

 Aitute no mean apparatus for philofophical experiment. When he (hall turn his 

 thoughts towards the experimental refearchcs, to which his obfervations evidently lead, I 

 axa confident he will be of opinion, that the publication of his conjedures, in their 

 prefect fiate, would not be defirable. 



