568 
EDITORIAL. 
and  the  translations  were  few  and  mostly  of  the  same  nature.  The  change 
commenced  with  Griffin's  Translation  of  Rose,  in  1831,  and  subsequently 
Liebig  and  Frezenius  have  been  transformed.  Since  then,  the  English,  slow 
to  move,  but  steady  and  onward  when  started,  have  taken  hold  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  we  have  had  a  series  of  works  on  analysis,  by  Bowman  Noad,  and 
now  the  handbook  of  Messrs.  Abel  and  Bloxam,  which  differs  materially  from 
any  of  its  predecessors,  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  combination  of  descriptive  and 
analytical  chemistry,  and  is  intended  as  a  guide — a.. handbook — for  the 
laboratory  student. 
In  taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  book  it  will  be  found  to  consist  of  three 
parts,  besides  an  introductory  chapter,  of  about  twenty-five  pages,  on  spe- 
cific gravity,  the  laws  and  rules  of  crystallization,  solution,  chemical  affinity, 
chemical  notation,  etc.  The  first  of  these  divisions  is  on  chemical  manipu- 
lation, and  is  a  condensed  view  of  the  subject  presented  in  Farraday's  or 
Morfit's  Manipulations,  embracing  gascmetry,  distillation,  solution,  evapo- 
ration, crystallization,  and  the  various  branches  of  heat  manipulation,  re- 
quiring furnaces  blowpipes,  crucibles,  etc.,  describing  apparatus,  and  the 
manner  of  mounting  and  using  it. 
The  second  principal  division,  entitled  Elementary  Chemistry,  describes  the 
non-metallic  and  metallic  elements,  and  their  principal  binary  and  saline  com- 
pounds, and  extends  over  480  pages.  In  general,  the  descriptions  are  terse,  lu- 
cid, well  illustrated  with  symbolic  notations,  and  eminently  practical ;  being 
thereby  better  adapted  to  laboratory  purposes.  The  authors  have  extended 
those  articles  which  bear  a  prominent  position  in  the  arts,  as  gunpowder, 
cement,  glass,  steel,  etc.  They  have  introduced  numerous  foot  notes,  re- 
ferring to  other  methods  of  preparing  substances,  or  to  recent  or  uncor- 
roborated observations  which  assist  the  reader  materially.  In  reference  to 
the  peculiarities  of  the  authors'  arrangement,  a  little  needs  to  be  said. 
Ozone  is  brought  in  under  oxygen,  ammonia  under  nitrogen,  cyanogen  un- 
der carbon.  The  grouping  of  the  metals  is  somewhat  different  from 
that  usually  found.  Gold  and  the  platinum  metals  are  grouped  with 
copper  and  cadmium,  whilst  silver,  lead  and  mercury  are  associated. 
After  having  passed  through  the  description  of  metallic  bodies,  the 
reader  is  struck  with  the  abrupt  termination  of  the  descriptive  chapters  by 
the  entire  omission  of  organic  chemistry.  Nor  will  he,  on  carefully  reading 
the  preface,  be  able  to  ascertain  what  reason  the  authors  offer  for  so  impor- 
tant an  omission,  at  this  time,  when  organic  chemistry  claims  so  much  in- 
terest from  all  interested  in  chemical  science.  There  is  another  hiatus  yet 
to  be  filled,  not  only  in  this  but  in  other  analogous  works,  and  one  that  is 
greatly  needed  by  the  pharmaceutist  and  physician,  that  is  a  treatise  on  the 
proximate  analysis  of  organic  substances.  Such  a  treatise  would  have  been 
peculiarly  appropriate  in  this  work,  intended,  as  it  is,  for  the  analytical 
student.  We  know  of  no  work  on  this  subject  in  the  English  language, 
and  in  French  the  treatise  of  Chevreul,  published  in  1824,  is  too  ancient  to 
be  of  much  service  now-a-days.  What  we  mean,  is  a  work  that  will  go  in- 
to the  details  of  the  manipulations  required  in  the  isolation  and  purifica- 
