1S44 51. CHEMISTRY OF THE STARS. 347 



tincd to open up a royal road to science, it is Dr. Wilson. He 

 is quite matchless in his use of felicitous illustrations, while the 

 hearty, off-hand way in which he carries us along with him, 

 makes us forget that he is dealing with the most abstruse 

 mysteries of science. It 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 Eeview/ 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 disposed to 

 call it " a scientific jeu d' esprit;" another thinks it " an ingenious 

 and eloquent argument respecting the stars and their inhabi- 

 tants, 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 illustra- 

 tions." 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 ' Tra- 

 vellers' Library,' in 1858, there is inserted a description of the 

 Atlantic Cable, with verses entitled ' The Atlantic Wedding 

 Ring,' which appeared first in ' Blackwood's Magazine.' Two 

 unexpected tokens of admiration of those verses speedily reached 

 their author, one a translation of the poem into French, and 

 the other, a request from the conductor of the Hull Vocal 



i The article on Electricity, as it appeared originally in the 'Edinburgh Review,' 

 is reprinted in Littell's ' Living Age,' No. 290, December 1849. Boston, U.S. 

 - Preface to Third Edition, p. viii. 



