PREFACE.' 
A year has now elapsed since we commenced the periodical the first volume 
«)f which is completed. The grounds on which we ventured on fthis scientific 
enterprize were not derived from a belief o^ our own fitness, for such an un- 
dertaking ; but from the circumstance that others, possessing superior talent, 
greater erudition, and being better adapted inv’every respect than ourselves, had 
not come forward: and when on the one hand, we took into consideration th® 
vast extent of this empire, and the strides which education was making 
among all classes of the people, and on the other, that no work, calcu- 
lated to diffuse the light which discoveries and improvements in Europe 
were hourly shedding through the medium of science and the arts, had been 
offered to the public; we considered ourselves justified in stepping forward, 
humble as our pretensions were, to prove the utility of a Journal exclusiv’^ely 
devoted to the review of works on science, embracing foreign science and 
the arts; and, by shewing the extensive influence which their dissemination 
must necessarily have in promoting the welfare of this country, and laying open 
those resources of knowledge which at all times have formed the basis of 
national power and prosperity, endeavour to awaken a general spirit of research. 
We had another objectinview. There are at the present moment rpwards of 700, 
accomplished and highly educated medical men scattered over the vast territories 
of our eastern possessions. The duties of many consist in simply attending'^4‘ew 
sick in a solitary hospital, and the British Government of India has not yet 
discovered the admirable advantages which would accrue from employing 
these able men out of the immediate sphere of their profession. Now there 
is scarcely a medical man in India who has not acquired some knowledge of 
chemistry — a knowledge which, it does not require much penetration and inge- 
nuity to prove, might be applied to improve the arts and manufactories now 
going on, in the great cities and marts in this country. What soil in the whole 
world is so rich in productions as this, and so calculated to yield all that 
is now obtained from foreign countries ? Observe what the genius of che- 
mical science has done for France and England, and what may it not do for 
India ! 
We are aware that we might be charged with encouraging an indulgence 
in speculative refinement, which has in some instances led men out of the line 
of useful industry, and, by the loss of property, to the ruin of their families. 
Such has been the result, it is true; but, generally speaking, to the artist only, 
seldom to the man of science. The chemist is better able than one who is 
only a mechanic to predict, from an experiment on a small scale, the probable 
issue of more extensive attempts. Watt, by a clear insight into the doctrine 
of latent heat, resulting from his thorough knowledge of chemistry, and 
seconded by mechanical skill, taught the way to bring the steam engine into 
