Chap. II.] Chemical Philosophij. 137 



public economist chemist r;. presents a treasure of 

 useful information. By means of this scienee alone 

 can he expect to attack with success tlie destroy- 

 ing pestilence, so far as it is an object of human 

 prevention, and to guard against other evils to 

 which the state of the elements gives rise. And to 

 the successful prosecution of numberless ])lans of 

 the philanthropist, some acquaintance with the 

 subject in question seems indispensably necessary. 

 Finally, to the domestic economist tliis science 

 abounds with pleasing and wholesome lessons. It 

 enables him to make a proper choice of meats and 

 drinks ; it directs him to those measures with re- 

 spect to aliment, cookery, clothing, and respiration, 

 which have the best tendency to promote health, 

 enjoyment, and cheapness of living; and it sets 

 him on his guard against many unseen evils, to 

 which those who are ignorant of its laws are con- 

 tinually exposed. In a word, from a speculative 

 science, >• chemistry, during the eighteenth century, 

 has become eminently and extensively a practical 

 one ; from an obscure, humble, and uninteresting 

 place among the objects of study, it has risen to a 

 high and dignified station ; and instead of merely 

 gratifying c: riosity, or furnishing amusement, it 

 promises a degree of utility, of which no one can 

 calculate the consequences, or see the end. 



But wiiile the great im})rovemcnts which have 

 been made in chemical philosophy during the last 

 century are readily admitted, it may not be impro- 

 per, before closing this chapter, to take notice of 

 the gross abuses, which have been adopted by some 

 of the most celebrated cultivators of the science 

 in question, and which have contributed to lessen 



