D. APPLETON d: CO: 8 PUBLICATIONS, 



The Chemistry of Common Life. 



Br JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, M.A., F.R.SS. L. & R, &c. 



AuUior of '* Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology," a 

 '■'■ Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology/ &c. 



AD VJERTISEMENT, 



Tqk common life of man is full of wonders, Chemical and Physiological. Most of us pass, 

 through this life without sef ing or being sensible of them, though every day our existence and 

 our comforts ought to recall ttiem to our minds. One main cause of this is, that our schoolsi 

 tell us nothing about them— do not teach those parts of modern learning which would fit us 

 for seeing them. What most concerns the things^ that daily occupy our attention and cares, 

 amAB. early life almost sedulously kept &om our knowledge. Those who would learn any 

 l^pg regarding them, must subsequently teach themselves through the help of the press : 

 faence the necessity for a Popular Chemical Literature, 



; It is with a view to meet this want of the Public, and at the same time to supply a Manual 

 $$t the Schools, that the present work has been projected. It treats, in what appears to be 

 iheir natural order, rf the aie wbt breathe and the water we deink, in their relations to 

 numan life and health — the soil we cultivate and the plant wb bear, as the sources 

 from which the chief sustenance of all life is obtained— the bread we eat and the beef wb 

 fitooK, as the representatives of the two grand divisions of human food— the bevebaqes wk 

 niiFusE, from which so much of the comfort of modern life, both savage and civilized, is de- 

 rived — THE BWBBTs WB EXTEAOT, the history of which presents so striking an illustration of 

 the economical value of chemical science— the liquors wb ferment, so different from th.. 

 sv^eets in their action on the system, and yet so closely connected with them in chemicp. 

 history — the narcotics we indulge in, as presenting us with an aspect of the human eon 

 stitution which, both chemically and physWlogically, Is more mysterious and wonderful than 

 any other we are acquainted with— the odoubs wb enjoy and the smells wb dislike ; th _ 

 former because of the beautiful illustration it presents of the recent jwogress of organi' 

 chemistry in its relations to comforts of common life, and the latter because of its intimatA 

 connection with our most important sanitary arrangements — what wb breathe fob and 

 WHT WB digest, 88 ftiuctions of the body at once the most important to life, and the most 

 purely chemical in their nature— the body we ohebish, as presentinsr many striking phe- 

 nomena, and performing many interesting chemical functions not touched upon in the dis- 

 cussion of the preceding topics— and lastly, the circulation of matter, as exhibiting in 

 one view the end, purpose, and method of all the changes in the natural body, in organic 

 nature, and in the mineral kingdom, which are connected with and determine the existence 

 of life. 



It has been -the object of the Author in this Work to exhibit the present condition of 

 chemical knowledge and of matured scientiflc opinion upon the subjects to which It Is devo- 

 ted. The reader will not be surprised, therefore, should he find in It some things which 

 differ from what is to be fonnd in other popular works already In his hands or on the shelves 

 of his library. 



The Work is being published in 5 or 6 Numbers, price 25 cents each, in the following 

 order, forming 1 vol 12mo. of about 400 pages. 



1. The AIE. we Breathe and 



2. The WATEB we Drink. 



3. The SOIL we Cultivate and 

 4"^&fi PLANT we Bear, 



5. The BBEAD we Bat and 



a Thai BBBF we Cook- 



% The BEVBRAGBS we Infiue< 



8. ths SWKKTS we Extract 



9. The LIQUOBS we Ferment. 



10. The NARCOTICS we Indulge in. 

 U. The OBOTJBS we Enjoy and 



12. The SMELLS we Bislike. 



13. WhatweBBEATHEandBEEATHE* 

 FOB, and 



14. What, How, and Why we BIGeST' 



15. The BODY we Cherish, and 



16- The CntCULATION of IHATTEB, 

 a Becapltulation. 



