Bibliography. 379 



Art. XII. — Bibliographical Notices. 



1. Animal Chemistry., or Organic Chemistry in its Application to 

 Physiology ; by Dr. Justus Liebig, M. D., Ph. D., F. E. S., M. R. I. A., 

 Prof, of Chem. in the University of Giessen, &c. &c. Edited from 

 the author's manuscript, by Wm. Gregory, M. D., R. K. S., &c., Prof, 

 of Chem. and Med. in the University of King's College, Aberdeen. 

 American edition, with additions, notes, and corrections, by Dr. Greg- 

 ory, and others by Dr. J. W. Webster, of Harvard University. Cam- 

 bridge, published by John Owen, 1842. 12mo. pp. 347. Also another 

 edition, by Wiley & Putnam, New York. 12mo. 1842. 



This work has come under our eyes too late to receive any but a 

 passing notice ; it is heralded by the enthusiastic applause of all who 

 have perused it, and will be studied by all who watch the develop- 

 ments of organic chemistry under the hands of the illustrious doctor 

 of Giessen. We here begin to enjoy some of the first fruits of that 

 laborious research in organic chemistry which has occupied, especially, 

 the German chemists, during several years past. The results of thou- 

 sands of analyses of organic matters, seeming, as they often did when 

 considered separately, of little pi'actical value, and interesting chiefly to 

 the working chemist, suddenly, as if by magic, assume, under the gen- 

 ius of arrangement and philosophic deduction, unexpected importance, 

 and promise to stop short only of explaining the very principle of vi- 

 tality itself. The complex results of vegetable and animal life, in the 

 development from so few elements, of organs and tissues so variously 

 constituted, has always been viewed as one of the most recondite ques- 

 tions of physical investigation. In the work before us, we are taught 

 to view these operations no longer in the light of imagination, but to 

 consider that the atoms of complex organisms are, like all other matter, 

 subject to the control of chemical laios under the influence of the vital 

 principle, and to believe that the carbonic acid, the result of respira- 

 tion, is as truly the product of comlustion as if it came from the burn- 

 ing of coals. One of the most remarkable developments of the book, 

 is the identity in composition of matters usually considered as in no 

 way related ; thus, albumen and fibrine, whether animal or vegetable, 

 whether from the serum of the blood, from wheat, or gluten, are iden- 

 tical in composition with each other ; and what is still more remarkable, 

 vegetable and animal caseine are not merely similar in composition, but 

 absolutely identical, not with each other only, but with albumen gmd 

 fibrine. Thus the following numbers express very nearly the compo- 

 sition of all these substances in one hundred parts. Carbon 54, hydro- 

 gen 7, nitrogen 15, oxygen, sulphur, &c. 23. This result is derived 



