56 Analyses of Books. [Jan. 



sulphate of iron is wasted by continuing the directions for using 

 too small a proportion of subcarbonate of soda ; and a larger 

 quantity of solution of subcarbonate of potash should have been 

 directed in preparing the liquor ferri alcalhii. 



With respect to my proposal for substituting strong acetic 

 acid diluted with water for distilled vinegar, Mr. Whipple says, 

 " The acidum aceticum fortius diluted with water does not 

 answer for the purpose of making the liquor plumbi subacetatis. 

 I have frequently tried it, and ever been unsuccessful, for as 

 soon as it assumes the density, as required in the Pharmacopoeia, 

 it becomes opaque, v.hich cannot be removed by filtration." I 

 have no doubt of the accuracy of Mr. Whipple's statement when 

 he admits that he has " ever been unsuccessful ;" and he will 

 continue to be so while he employs impure acetic acid; this 

 must have been the case, for I assert that the acidum aceticum 

 fortius diluted with water, does answer for the purpose of making 

 the liquor plumbi subacetatis, a perfectly clear and colourless 

 solution being immediately obtainable by filtration. 



Article XI. 

 Analyses of Books. 



An F.xplanatori/ Dicfionan/ of the Apparatus and Instruments 

 emploijed in Ike various Operations of Philosophical and Expe- 

 rimental Chemist r I/. With 17 Quarto Plates. By a Practical 

 Chemist. London. Boys, pp.295. 16.s. 



Seventeen well eyecuted quarto plates (for such they really 

 are) for sixteen shillings can hardly be a bad bargain, and if the 

 text at all equal the engravings, in matter as well as type, it 

 must be a very cheap one, at least as books go now. At all 

 events, Mr. Adlaid, the engraver, and Mr. Green, the printer, 

 have done their duty, and the paper does not disgrace the 

 stationer who sold it. So much for the getting up ; and we 

 assure our readers, it is no small part of the art and mystery of 

 book-making in these days of bibliomaniacal fastidiousness. 

 We could wish indeed, for our own sakes, that matters would 

 take a turn, and the price of books descend a little more to the 

 level of our " cold" purses ; but whilst our friend Mr. Dibdin 

 continues to treat us v.ith such luxuries as his Strasbourg Cathe- 

 dral, Ann of Brittanij, and the Vieiv of Rouen on the Road to 

 Havre, S)C.* we cannot help wishing him to persevere in his 

 splendid course, though he half ruins us with the irresistible 

 temptations. But to the work before us. 



* See his Tour, the most beautifully illustrated work of the kind of the present day. 



