200 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. VIII. 



is seldom that we find a man so eminent in science retaining 

 all the warmth and freshness of humanity about him. He 

 clothes every subject he touches with the bright hues of 

 fancy and the warm sympathies of a human heart." 1 



In addition to this essay, there is in the volume one 

 originally published in the "British Quarterly Review," 

 entitled "The Chemistry of the Stars." It is an endeavour 

 to determine the extent to which we can ascertain the 

 relative difference of chemical composition between the 

 earth and the heavenly bodies. The learned author of the 

 " Plurality of Worlds " says of it : 2 " Dr. George Wilson 

 has, in his lively tract on * The Chemistry of the Stars,' 

 made some very ingenious reflections, tending to show that 

 the earth, the planets, the stars, and the sun, are probably 

 very different from one another." 



This essay has somewhat puzzled critics. One is dis- 

 posed to call it "a scientific jeu d 'esprit ;" another thinks 

 it " an ingenious and eloquent argument respecting the 

 stars and their inhabitants, exhibiting the characteristic 

 marks of Dr. Wilson's writings great clearness, force, and 

 originality of style, with uncommon felicity in the selection 

 of homely and apt illustrations." A third reminds us that 

 its precedence of the " Plurality of Worlds " gives it a claim 

 to the notice of those who study the discussion which 

 followed the issue of that work. 



In a second and revised edition of this number of the 

 "Traveller's Library," in 1858, there is inserted a descrip- 

 tion of the Atlantic Cable, with verses entitled "The 

 Atlantic Wedding Ring," which appeared first in " Black- 



1 The article on Electricity, as it appeared originally in the " Edin- 

 burgh Review," is reprinted in Littell's "Living Age," No. 290, 

 December 1849. Boston, U.S. 



2 Preface to Third Edition, p. viii. 



