Notices respecting New Books. 2.21 



unfrequently an author, unable to guess what will be the forthcoming 

 educational plan, writes without a definite idea of any kind to guide 

 him, unless it be that of addressing some particular class of students 

 at a given school ; and if one insists wholly on the inductive me- 

 thod, another asserts the necessity of much deductive preface, while 

 a third is lost in transcendental speculation. A great deal of this 

 confusion might have been avoided by assuming the independent 

 attitude and occupying the lofty position of the older writers. At 

 the end of the last and beginning of the present century, for example, 

 it was no doubt the intention of such chemists as Macquer, Lavoisier, 

 Davy, and Thenard to place within the student's reach a manual 

 which should exhibit chemistry as a ivhole ; it is, in the main, works 

 of such a nature that were then most extensively read. Even where 

 detail was avoided rather than given, the reader could never have 

 felt the impression from such a book to be fragmentary. He resem- 

 bled an observer with the microscope viewing an object with a low 

 power. He might see chemical facts brilliantly illuminated by in- 

 ductive light, deduction proffered by a master mind, and, naming 

 (according to custom) every chemist a philosopher, might perhaps 

 imagine himself a witness of the golden age. The subsequent pro- 

 gress of science has, indeed, pointed out deficiencies in that epoch ; 

 but it has never made a general improvement on the foremost 

 manuals which then appeared. They still remain as models of com- 

 pleteness ; and a strong deductive tendency (sometimes latent, some- 

 times in bold relief) is one of the noblest characteristics they display. 



The manual of Professors Eliot and Storer is evidently intended 

 chiefly for laboratory use, and is designedly much more practical 

 than theoretical in its tone. With its aid, a teacher might possibly 

 dispense with lectures to a great extent — a course which the book 

 itself may almost be said to suggest. The authors seem to use it as 

 an aid to "classes in the laboratory;" and, from the appearance of 

 two editions in the course of one year, it may be inferred that their 

 plan has been favourably received in American schools. It is highly 

 probable that some such scheme will be adopted among ourselves if 

 chemistry really becomes an element of our national education. It 

 would indeed be a misfortune if the lecture system should be 

 wholly abolished ; for we should thereby lose one of the principal 

 means of retaining pure science among us. But good lecturers will 

 never be numerous, certainly never in proportion to the general 

 demand in the case supposed. Most of the students will be com- 

 mitted to the care of comparatively young instructors, whose slight 

 theoretical attainments will inspire respect much more slowly than 

 their practical gifts. Under these circumstances chemistry, if it is 

 to be taught at all, will have to be taught partially — that is, for the 

 most part in a practical way ; and some work like the present will 

 doubtless be in general use. 



While decidedly of opinion that the partial teaching of a subject 

 is rather a mitigated evil than an undoubted blessing, we have 

 noticed with pleasure or interest that, of the very few chemical ma- 

 nuals which make strong inductive professions, not one can escape 



