Notice of a Manual of Chemistry. 331 



which had been announced, down almost to the very day of pub- 

 lication. This edition is better printed than those were that pre- 

 ceded it. There is one change that in an especial manner pleases 

 us, and for which, unless we greatly err, he will receive the 

 thanks of every student ; we mean the introduction of neat and 

 well executed wood cuts into the body of the work, instead of the 

 insertion of the illustrations at the end. The advantage of the 

 former over the latter plan is too obvious to require designating. 



In a short preface, or advertisement as it is styled, the author 

 informs us that owing to the adoption of Dr. Turner's Elements 

 into several institutions, (the Manual being out of print,) and 

 knowing that Dr. T. was preparing a new edition for the press, 

 he was induced to relinquish, for the time, the publication of the 

 present work. Subsequently, he was prompted to renew his labor 

 and perfect his design, from ascertaining that Dr. Turner's work 

 was left incom/plete at the time of the decease of tiiat good man 

 and most excellent chemist. That he was prompted to finish 

 that which he had undertaken we rejoice at ; because the "Ele- 

 ments," admirable as is the work, is not practical ; it is not a work 

 that a beginner can follow experimentally ; and yet this course is 

 the only one whereby chemistry can be profitably and satisfacto- 

 rily studied, and thoroughly and advantageously taught. 



The present work, we are told by Dr. Webster, is compiled and 

 arranged by him. Such a task, if faithfully and judiciously exe- 

 cuted, requires no less intimate a knowledge of the subject, and 

 demands a far greater amount of labor than the writing of an 

 original treatise. Indeed, we can hardly say that we have or can 

 have an entirely original treatise on practical chemistry. All of 

 our manuals and systems are in truth, for the most part, compila- 

 tions ; they must from the very nature of the subject be made 

 up of the thousand facts, experiments, discoveries, deductions, 

 (fcc, that are to be found scattered through a vast number of sci- 

 entific journals, transactions, memoirs, and other publications. 



Whilst perusing the volume, we continually see abundant evi- 

 dence that the author spared no pains in collecting, examining, 

 and duly arranging his materials, and that he often condensed 

 elaborate papers, clothing their substance in language of his own, 

 the more surely to bring them within the comprehension of the 

 reader. Some may think that he is occasionally too concise, but 

 his references to the original sources are always given, so that the 



