Notice of a Manual of Chemistry. 329 



westerly wind which followed or closed up the easterly gale. 

 This storm broke up the heavy ice in the Hudson for ten miles 

 below Albany, and will long be remembered for the damages 

 which it occasioned. It is not a little remarkable that the maxi- 

 mum, minimum and extreme range of the barometer for a period 

 of seven years, should all have occurred in this month. 



The fluctuations of the barometer and other phenomena which 

 characterize our great storms, can only be thus cursorily alluded to 

 in this place ; but they have strong claims to the attention and 

 inquiries of all observers ; and when duly investigated, will prob- 

 ably add more to our knowledge of the laws of storms and at- 

 mospheric changes than all the mean results of instrumental 

 observations which have been so industriously sought by philoso- 

 phers and men of science. Of the available means for ascertain- 

 ing these phenomena, few are more promising than the system of 

 observation which is organized under the direction of the Regents 

 of the University. It is now only necessary, that accurately ad- 

 justed barometers be furnished for two or three selected stations 

 in each of the senatorial districts, and that the observations of this 

 instrument, for fixed hours, be returned to the Regents with the 

 usual annual reports. 



New York, January 22, 1840. 



Art. XVI. — Notice of a Manual of Chemistry, cotitaining the 

 principal facts of the science, in the order in which they ore dis- 

 cussed and illustrated in the Lectures at Harvard University, 

 N. E.^ and several other colleges and medical schools in the U. 

 States. Compiled and arranged as a text-hook for the use of 

 Studeiits and persons attending Lectures on Chemistry. Third 

 edition, cmnprising a summary of the latest discoveries, as con- 

 tained in the works of Brande, Turner, Thomson, and other 

 distinguished Chemists, illustrated with upwards of two hun- 

 dred engravings on ivood ; by John W. Wkbster, M. D., Er- 

 ving Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in Harvard Uni- 

 versity. 1 Yol. 8vo, pp. xxii, 556. Boston : Marsh, Capen, 

 Lyon & Webb. 1840. (Communicated.) 



Two editions of the Manual of Chemistry by Dr. Webster, 

 have already been presented to the public, by means of which it 

 has become extensively known among men of science ; its char- 

 Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2.— Jan .-March, 1840. 42 



