102 
REVIEW. 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non. — Hon. 
An Easy Introduction to Chemistry. By George Sparkes, 
late Madras Civil Service. Second Edition, pp. 182. Whittaker 
and Co., London. 1846. 
To the youthful mind the portals of learning can hardly lie too 
wide open, or present too inviting an entrance. The steps leading 
thereto should be direct of approach and facile of ascent; and cheer- 
ing prospects should entice the student onward through the vari- 
ous departments of the particular science or art he may be in 
the pursuit of, until he shall have possessed himself of that quan- 
tum of knowledge which of itself will prove to him a sufficient 
stimulus for the acquirement of more. Beautiful and edifying as 
the phenomena of chemistry must appear to every one who has 
arrived at any degree of mastery of the science, not a few persons, 
we are apprehensive, have felt dismay at the outset of their study 
of it, and some to a degree to deter them from proceeding, by the 
array of hard names and difficult problems set forth in the very 
first chapter or section of some “ elementary’’ or “ introductory” 
work put into their hands. Instead of simple elements, and plain 
and to them intelligible introductory language, at the beginning, 
they find themselves beset by “ equivalents,” and “ symbols,” and 
“ formulae,” requiring calculations which they are not in a condition 
to make, or, if to make, not to understand ; and the result is, that 
the book, and the science along with it, are cast off in distaste, if 
not in disgust. 
The present “ Easy Introduction to Chemistry” has not only 
steered clear of this too common fault, but in the kind and quantity 
of matter it contains, as well as in the style in which the same is 
couched, has, according to our notions on the subject, much to re- 
commend it to the notice of the student, and we may say to the 
veterinary student, his chemical knowledge not being required to 
be deep, so much as fundamental and communicable. Indeed, to 
anybody having the slightest turn for a knowledge of what may 
be called popular chemistryi this little work cannot fail to prove 
a pleasing as well as an instructive companion. And, therefore, 
we can feel no hesitation whatever in awarding to it, as a step- 
stone to chemical science, our full meed of approbation. 
