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IX. Notices rtspecling New Books. 



A Dictionary of Chemistry, on the Batis of Mr. Nichoj.son's, 

 in which the Principles of the Science are investigated nveiv, 

 and its Applications to the Phenomena of Nature, Medicine, 

 Mineralogy, Agriculture, and Manufactures, detailed. By 

 Andrew Ure, M.D. Professor of the Andersonian Institution, 

 Member of the Geological Society, &ic. &c. 



We hasten to give some account of a work calculated to excite 

 great interest in the chemical world. Its author has been long 

 known as a brilliant and successful public teacher of the science ; 

 and peculiarly conversant in its useful applications. His various 

 Memoirs printed in the Transactions of the Royal Societies of 

 London and Edinburgh, as well as in the scientific journals, 

 display much ingenuity joined to patient research ; and his Tables 

 on Heat, and the Acids, are now adopted as the standard autho- 

 rities on their respective subjects. 



We learn from the Introduction to this Dictionary, that in the 

 month of June last he was engaged by a London publisher to 

 revise Nicholson's octavo Dictionary for a new edition ; but he 

 has not restricted himself to the simple and easy functions of an 

 editor. Dr. Ure has, in fact, re-written three-fourths of the work; 

 and has gratuitously inserted many profound dissertations on the 

 most important and intricate departments of chemistry. The in- 

 vestigations of facts are conducted with candour, acutencss, and 

 logical precision ; and the language is perspicuous and elegant. 

 Statements which other writers spread over a page, are commu- 

 nicated by Dr. Ure with perfect clearness in a sentence or two. 

 The volume consists of about 800 pages, in double columns, 

 equivalent to nearly three ordinary octavo volumes. We have no 

 hesitation in aflirming, that it contains greater power of original 

 research, than any body of chcinical knowledge which has ap- 

 peared since the Elements of Sir H. Davy. That it was all com- 

 posed within a period of five months, as the author states in the 

 Introduction, is evident from the references interspersed through 

 it; and gives us a favourable idea of his intellectual resources. 



A few extracts will satisfy our readers that we have not been 

 bestowing unmerited praise on this Dictionary; but at present 

 we must be more brief than we could wish. 

 " Introduction. 



" In this Introduction I shall first present a general view 

 of the objects of Chemistry, along with a schenie for converting 

 the alphabetical arrangement adopted in this volume, into a sy- 

 stematic order of study. I shall then describe the manner in 



which 



