Miscellanies. 155 



will enable him to do greater justice to his subject than most writers 

 on ornithology : while the easy manner in which he expresses him- 

 self in describing natural objects, will, we doubt not, approximate his 

 descriptions, for popular interest, to those of the celebrated Wilson. 



5. Elements of Physics, or JVatural Philosophy, General and 

 Medical; explained independently of technical Mathematics. In 

 two volumes. Vol. II. Part I. Comprehending the subjects of 

 Heat and Light ; by Neil Arnott, M. D., of the Royal College 

 of Physicians. First American, from the first London edition. 

 Carey and Lea, Philadelphia. — The second volume of Dr. Arnott's 

 Elements of Physics, so long and impatiently called for, has just is- 

 sued from the press of Carey & Lea. The first volume appeared in 

 London more than two years since, and has already gone through 

 four editions in England, beside being reprinted in America, and in 

 France, where it was translated, and accompanied with algebraical 

 formulae for the use of schools and colleges. 



The first part of the second volume treats of heat and hglit, and 

 as regards these branches, may be deemed a " royal road to sci- 

 ence," for the explanations are so clear and familiar, as to be per- 

 fectly intelligible to such as are not skilled in technical learning. — 

 Prefixed to this volume is an appendix, in which the cause of stut- 

 tering or stammering is explained, and a simple remedy suggested, 

 which, by the author, is considered effectual. 



In a practical view, it is a work of great value. It instructs the 

 artisan in the nature of heat ; qualifies him to apply and control it, 

 and to convert its most terrible force into a quiet and manageable 

 working power. In the language of the author, " the element of 

 heat in its tranquil and invisible diffusion, is the hfe and soul of the 

 universe ; the cause of seasons and climates, and of all the changes 

 and activity which distinguish a living world from a dead and frozen 

 mass. Fire, in man's service, may be figured as a legion of spirits, 

 to whom no labor is difficult. In every private dwelling he has these 

 spirits as his domestic servants ; in his manufactories they are melting 

 glass, reducing ores, and boiling and evaporating for an hundred pur- 

 poses. But it is chiefly while chained to the steam engine that they 

 put forth a giant's strength, heaving a river from the bottom of a 

 mine, or urging a vast ship through the winter storm." Equally ad- 

 mirable is the " nice dexterity with which they twist the silk or cotton 

 threads, and weave them, into the most delicate fabrics." The work 



