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Notices respecting New Books. 57 
‘wire-gauze the greater the heat produced, and the more brilliant the flame, 
so that with very coarse wire-gauze it will be proper to interrupt too free 
a circulation of air by using a tin-plate cylinder which will act as an ex 
tinguisher, either for a part or the whole of the flame ; and for security, it 
may be proper to adopt double wire cylinders; perhaps iron wire will be 
better than brass. It will be easy by various means to keep the tin-plate 
cylinder below the red heat, though probably the temperature will never 
approach this. 
— 
Elements of Electricity and Electro-Chemistry. By GEor¢® 
Joun SincEr. 1 vol. 8vo. with Plates by Lowry, 507 pp. 
Longman and Co. Price \6s. 
The rapid progress of electrical discovery since the invention 
of the battery of Volta, and the present importance of electri- 
city as an essential branch of chemical philosophy, are circum- 
stances which render an elementary work on this subject adapted 
to the existing state of knowledge, an acquisition of real value: 
and as the brilliant series of discoveries which have so eminently 
distinguished the commencement of the 19th century have not 
before appeared in any regular treatise on electricity, we no- 
tice with pleasure the successful endeavours of Mr. Singer to 
lessen the difficulties and promote the cultivation of an interest- 
ing department of science by a clear and comprehensive state- 
ment of its most essential facts. 
The author has paid very considerable attention to the ar- 
rangement of his subject, and by this means has effectually 
promoted his object of rendering it more familiar. We extract 
the following remark on this subject from the preface to the 
work. ‘ By a proper attention to arrangement I have been 
enabled to communicate a more extensive collection of facts in 
a single volume, than is to be found in any existing treatise with 
which I am acquainted; and that attention may be expected to 
render even more concise statements amply intelligible; for ma- 
terials thus disposed are like the combination of stones in an 
arch; they mutually support each other, and form a connected 
series in which every part is essential to the existence of the 
whole.” 4 
The details in this work are certainly more intelligible and 
less prolix than in the majority of those on the same subject 
which have come under our observation ; and yet they involve a 
more extensive series of phenomena. This advantage is most 
probably derived partly from the extensive practice of the author 
as a lecturer, and partly from the assiduous attention which he 
has paid to the science from a very early age. The subject is 
introduced by « historical sketch of the principal epochs of dis- 
covery, which is calculated to prepare the reader for the aclege 
tific 
