Notices respecting New Books. 379 



by Uie mere study of books, that celebrated and interesting production 

 of nature, often discovered before, it is true, but always of equal 

 interest when rediscovered, — a Mare's Nest. — We are not fond of 

 pleasantry in the discussions of science, but really this blunder is 

 worthy only of ridicule. 



To return however to our examination of page xxxii. In the first 

 quotation from the Dying Struggle, Mr. Macleay certainly does 

 strongly affirm his opinion, that the two relations of affinity and ana- 

 logy co-exist in nature, (to which subject we shall by and by advert 

 in detail,) and were designed so to co-exist, at the Creation. But all 

 he asserts of himself, is, that he, by induction, discovered the nature 

 of the distinction between them, and also the nature of their co-exis- 

 tence ; and as truly might the Chemist who has observed that hydro- 

 gen, oxygen, and sulphur, enter into combination with each other or 

 with other bodies invariably in proportions represented by the num- 

 bers I, 8, and 16, or their multiples by a whole number, say, " It is 

 quite inconceivable, that the utmost human ingenuity could make" 

 the proportions in which these bodies combine " tally with each 

 other, had they not been so designed at the Creation." He would de- 

 scribe in these terms, relations which the Creator has been pleased to 

 confer on certain forms of matter ; Mr. Macleay does the same, but 

 he does no more ; neither does more or less, by using this language, 

 than describe an ascertained phaenomenon. Similar is the case with 

 Mr. Macleay 's saying that the great groups into which he has disco- 

 vered the animal kingdom to be distributed, on its first ramification, 

 " are almost mathematically proved to be natural." This is just the 

 expression which the chemist again might use, in the actual condition 

 of his science, respecting Dr. Front's doctrine that all the numbers 

 representing the proportional combining weights of the chemical ele- 

 ments are simple even multiples of the least of them ; a doctrine 

 which "is almost mathematically proved to be natural." 



We quit the subjects of this introductory page, with the observa- 

 tion that the quotations in it have been made and arranged, either 

 disingenuously or ignorantl)', to prove that Mr. Macleay's system 

 claims to be ipso facto the system of nature : if such be not their de- 

 sign, they can have been intended for no purpose whatever, nor do 

 they serve any other. [To be continued.! 



Sept. 29, 1831. 



The Life of Sir Humphky Davy, Bart. LL.D.lale President of the 

 Royal Societu, Foreign Associate of the Royal Institute of France, 

 Sfc. S^c. By John Ayrton Paris, M.D, Cantab. F.R.S. SfC. 

 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. 



[Continued from page 223.] 

 In the chapter which contains the account of the decomposition 

 of the fixed alkalies, notice is also taken of some of Davy's ex- 

 periments and discoveries, which though of minor are still of great 

 importance ; to these, however, we shall but briefly allude. Among 

 them are an investigation of tiic nature of Antwerp blue, which 

 proved to be a mixture of Prussian blue and alumina; the pro- 

 duction of the vegetation of the carbon of the wick of a candle, 

 y C 2 by 



