Notices respecting New BooJcs. isSS 



swered, and thus leave a stronger impression on the mmd 

 than a simple affirmation of the facts. Of the sixteen conver- 

 sations which the book contains, the first is introductory, con- 

 taining definitions of mineralogy and geology; their relation; 

 the connexion of mineralogy with chemistry; and a list of the 

 simple or elementaiy substances of which minerals are com- 

 posed. In the second and third the properties and appear- 

 ance of these substances, and their comparative utility to man- 

 kind, in a simple or prepared state, are explained as fully as 

 is consistent with the nature of the work : in the third conver- 

 sation an explanation is also given of the term specific gra- 

 vity, and the manner of determining it. The fourth conver- 

 sation is an introduction, to the mathematical part of minera- 

 logy, crystallography ; the theory of Haiiy is here adopted, as 

 the most capable of explaining the internal structure of cry- 

 stals consistently with their external transitions of form : the 

 system of Professor Mohs is not capable of bemg adopted, or 

 even properly explained, in a work of this extent, and it is, be- 

 sides, not generally known in England. The uses of the goni- 

 ometer, electrometer, magnet, blowpipe, and chemical tests, 

 with the principal external characters of minerals, are ex- 

 plained in the succeeding conversation ; and in the sixth are 

 some remarks on the classification of minerals, and a tabular 

 sketch of the one adopted. Miss Lowry's arrangement is new : 

 though founded, like most others, on a combination of the 

 chemical and physical characters of minerals, it is made to 

 depend, in some degree, on their comparati ve age : thus, the 

 earthy compounds being more ancient than the metalliferous 

 ones, j)^'^c^de them; and the inflammable substances, which 

 are of more recent formation, are placed after them. We 

 observe that she has made an addition of one substance, ar- 

 seniate of iron, to the list given by Haiiy of minerals which 

 are electric by heat. This property of the arseniate of u'ou 

 has not, we believe, before been remarked by any author. 



This work is highly creditable to Miss Lowry, aiid we can- 

 not doubt will be well received by the public. The Plates, 

 which are twelve in number, are all from drawings by Miss 

 Lowry, executed with a degree of neatness and accuracy 

 which have never been sui-jiassed. 



The Linncan Society have just published the Second Part of 

 the 13th Volume of their Transactions, containing the fol- 

 lowing Pajiers : 

 Second Part of the Descriptive Catalogue of a Zoological 



Collection made in the Island (if Sumatra and its Vicinity. 



By Sir Thomas Stamford Kafiics. — A Monograph of the 



Genus 



