ANNALS 



ov 



PHILOSOPHY. 



JANUARY, 1815. 



Article I. 



Sketch of the latest Improvements in the Physical Sciences. 

 By Thomas Thomson, M.D. F.R:S^ 



After an almost total exclusion from the Continent for about 

 seven years, all the kingdoms of Europe have been suddenly 

 thrown open ; and it has been in our power, by importing the 

 different foreign journals, to make ourselves acquainted witii the 

 various additions which the sciences have received during this 

 eventful period. But these journals amount to so many volumes, 

 that I find myself overwhelmed with matter, and foresee with 

 regret that it will be utterly impossible for me to lay before my 

 readers an historical sketch of the improvements which have been 

 made in all the physical sciences. I shall theiefore be under the 

 necessity of confining myself, at least at present, to those sciences 

 which have been cultivated with the greatest ardour, and in which 

 the most important improvements have taken place. These are 

 Chemislnj and Mineralogij. I shall pass more slightly over what 

 has been done in these sciences in Britain and France ; because the 

 journals and scientific works of these countries have already become 

 in some measure known to my readers ; partly by the contents 

 of the Annals of Pliilosophy, and partly by means of the other 

 London ^'cientific journals. 1 shall dwell cliicily on what has been 

 done in Germany and tlie North of Europe ; because the languages 

 of these countries are not much cultivated in Britain, and because 

 our connection with them was so completely interrupted, that there 

 is a considerable probal)ility that most of the facts which I shall 

 state are unknown to at leabt the greater number of my readers. 

 Next to chemistry and mineralogy, electricity, magnetism, and 



Vol. V. N* I. A 



