BEYIEWS. 
75 
therefore, in "bringing it within the compass of a small octavo volume, a some- 
what difficult duty, and yet do we think he has done it well. Of course it 
must not he imagined that he has treated of all the metals. Such a scheme 
would be beyond his plan, as it would most unquestionably have been beyond 
his pupils. He has therefore, of course, selected just those metals which are 
eminently useful, not merely of special interest ; and has given us minutely, 
and yet clearly, the modes, step by step, followed in procuring them from 
their ores, from the time the crude ore is taken in hand till the metal itself 
is discharged. He has given us the methods employed in the metallurgy of 
iron and steel, copper, tin, zinc, lead, silver, gold, mercury, platinum, palla- 
dium, antimony, bismuth, aluminium, magnesium, and cadmium. Indeed, 
some will say that he has dealt in a few instances with metals which have 
little or no real use in the arts, but we may remark that in these cases he 
has merely given a page or so each, so that they do not take up much space. 
But with the metals which come into daily use he has dealt liberally 
enough. Thus iron and steel come in for quite a third of the whole volume. 
The description of these is full of interest, especially as the author has in- 
troduced a description of the Bessemer and various allied processes. This 
and the other parts of the volume are amply illustrated, and the illustrations 
are clear enough, but they strike us, merely from their appearance, as being 
either badly cut or used for some years, but this may be due to the fact 
that our copy is an imperfect reprint. Altogether we are very much pleased 
with the way in which Mr. Bloxam has discharged his task, and we hope 
the other volumes of the series will compare with his favourably. 
The late Dr. Miller’s work has been less difficult than the former author’s, 
yet do we think it has been equally well done. We had expected that it 
would have been little more than a cutting down of the author’s well-known 
large volume (Vol. II.) on Inorganic Chemistry. It seems, however, to be a 
work written for a special purpose, and to be well adapted to the object the 
writer had in view. It was much to be regretted that the author should have 
died before the book came out ; but, so far as care, trouble, and energy could 
have been exerted upon the most laborious part of the writer’s duties, that 
of u seeing it through the press,” his friend Mr. C. Tomlinson, F.R.S., has 
been an able and a thorough friend. There is not much, of course, to say 
about the volume. It appears to be carefully executed, as we might have 
expected ; but there is one feature which we very much admire, and that is 
the introduction of experiments, within easy range of the student, and cal- 
culated to impress the foregoing matter upon his mind. These are 
numerous, simple, and cheaply performed, and we are glad of this introduc- 
tion in such a volume as the present one ; altogether it is, like Professor 
Bloxam’s, an excellent little volume, and we heartily wish both every success 
in the world. 
