1826.] to Dr. Ure's Review. S 



are propagated till their origin ceases to be suspected, and till 

 they come to be generally believed. As an example, I may 

 mention that I happened sometime ago to turn up a System of 

 Chemistry, of considerable celebrity, written by a chemist still 

 alive, and possessed of reputation. The account of nitrate of 

 silver caught my eye. I observed a minute statement respecting 

 the water of crystallization of this salt. Knowing that the 

 nitrate of silver is anhydrous, I shut the book, and have never 

 since been able to prevail on myself to open it again. 



He who will take the trouble to determine with minute accu- 

 racy the properties of all known bodies, will do more to advance 

 the science of chemistry than he could accomphsh by the disco- 

 very of a thousand new substances. The foundation of the 

 whole fabric is an accurate knowledge of the atomic weights of 

 bodies ; because upon that knowledge the whole art of analysis, 

 and consequently chemical experimenting, entirely depends. It 

 is only since the atomic theory has been brought to a consider- 

 able degree of perfection that the art of analvsis, and with it 

 chemical science, has made a considerable approach to preci- 

 sion : and every successful attempt to add further to the perfec- 

 tion of this important theory is in reahty of more value to the 

 science than the discovery of a new simple substance ; because 

 every new law, or extension, or modification of an old law, is of 

 more importance than any mere simple fact can be. I again, 

 therefore, caution young chemists from being led astray by the 

 tirade which I have just quoted. Indeed the author was 

 obviously writing merely to answer a particular purpose ; for 

 every thing that he himself has attempted to do in chemistry 

 has been confined to the ascertaining of weight and measure. 

 Even in the present review, he piques himself upon his know- 

 ledge of the specific gravity, and the bulk of vapour at different 

 temperatures ; and such is the value which he sets upon some 

 tables indicating the strength of nitric and muriatic acids, which 

 it seems he has published ; that he modestly insinuates that no 

 one but himself was capable of constructing them — that the 

 tallies of these strengths which I myself have given must have 

 been stolen from his ; and that, despairing of being able to 

 reach the degree of accuracy which he had obtained, I volunta- 

 rily deteriorated his precious labours in order to conceal the 

 source from which I had acquired my information. 



2. After his elegant exordium, which I have already laid 

 before the reader. Dr. Andrew Uie, of the Andersonian Institu- 

 tion, Glasgow, proceeds to display his profound knowledge of 

 the subject which he has undertaken to review. This he accom- 

 plishes by a process sufficiently simple, and very common among- 

 reviewers, who are ambitious of displaying their learning and 

 extent of research without any expense of time and labour. He 

 transfers my historical introductio» iuto his review, and gives it 



