Chemical Works. 93 



7. Dr. Thomson on Heat and Light. — This is the first part of a 

 series of volumes, (a substitute for his learned and elaborate system,) 

 which this able author designs to publish for the use of the students 

 of the University of Glasgow, of which he is Regius Professor of 

 chemistry. As he has allowed himself a full octavo volume for these 

 subjects, he has expatiated with correspondent fullness, and the work 

 is a very valuable digest of the most important facts and opinions on 

 topics which are inexhaustible. His researches have enabled him to 

 introduce much new important matter, some of it from sources not 

 usually explored, and he has enriched this volume with many valua- 

 ble tables. 



By some perhaps, the style will be regarded as occasionally less 

 condensed than is usual in elementary treatises of science, but no 

 thorough student of these subjects will wish the account of them to 

 be shorter. We shall look with impatience for the succeeding vol- 

 umes of this great work. 



8. AiKiNs' Dictionary. — It is a matter of great surprise and re- 

 gret, that only one edition, (and that more than twenty years ago,) 

 has been published of a work of incomparable excellence, and which 

 is still an invaluable book of reference. From long and intimate fa- 

 miliarity with this Dictionary, or rather Encyclopedia of chemistry, 

 we have no hesitation in saying that it is surpassed by nothing with 

 which we are acquainted in the English or French language, and a 

 greater service could not be performed to chemistry and the connected 

 subjects, than by giving a new edition in the spirit and manner of the 

 first, with all the discoveries and improvements to the present time. 



9. Ure's Dictionary. — A fourth edition of this work, with the 

 author's revision, has just reached this country. We have not had 

 time to examine it, but cannot doubt that an author of so much acu- 

 men, zeal and industry, has given this work all requisite additions 

 and improvements. Originally, this dictionary was published by the 

 late Mr. William Nicholson of London, and it was exceedingly 

 valuable, especially as it appeared before Aikins' Dictionary. It has 

 been modernized, and in a great measure rewritten, by Dr. Ure, and 

 the American public have been made acquainted with it through the 

 improved edition of Dr. Hare. It is a very useful work, and we trust 

 that the fourth edition will be found free from some personalities, 

 which we regret to have seen in former English editions. 



Among the books of this class, we may mention the small diction- 

 ary translated from the French, by Mrs. Lincoln. To those who 

 find it inconvenient to consult the larger dictionaries, that now men- 



