290 
EDITORIAL. 
Elements of Chemistry ; including the applications of the Science in the Arts. 
By Thomas Graham, F. R. S., &c. Second American, from an entirely 
revised and greatly enlarged English edition, with numerous wood engravings. 
Edited, with notes, "by Robert Bridges, M. D., Prof, of Chemistry in the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, etc. Philadelphia, Blanchard & Lea, 
1852. [Part I. pp. 430 octavo.] 
"We acknowledge the reception of the first part of this excellent treatise, 
from the publishers, with pleasure. The author has long been engaged 
on the work, and is giving a more than usual amount of time and research 
to its reyision, not only as regards those parts where the progress of 
science renders it absolutely necessary, but in numerous tabular exposi- 
tions, in an increased accuracy of the numbers, in an improved arrange- 
ment of subjects, and in the adoption of hydrogen as unity in equivalent 
proportions, so as to agree with the larger number of English chemical 
writers. The subject is carried as far as the earthy-basic metals, inclu- 
ding the physics of chemistry, chemical philosophy, the non-metallic ele- 
ments and their mutual compounds, and the alkaline, alkaline-earthy, and 
earthy-basic metals and their compounds. Among the special additions 
we may notice the table of specific heat of gases, Mr. Hutchinson's table of 
the heat-resisting power of building materials, the method of obtaining 
the latent heat of volatile liquids, the recent results of Faraday and others 
in refrigeration by means of solid carbonic acid, with a figure of Thilo- 
rier's apparatus, observations on the effusion and transpiration of gases, 
quite new, Regnault's condenser hydrometer, the subject of specific heat, 
and the table of the specific gravity of gases and vapors, have been much 
extended, and the discoveries and improvements in apparatus in relation to 
chemical polarity have been added and illustrated. 
In regard to the arrangement of subjects, Prof. Graham has placed 
ammonia under the head of nitrogen ; oxalic acid, the hydrides of carbon, 
and cyanogen, under the head of carbon ; the new compounds of sulphur 
and oxygen hydrosulphuric acid and sulphide of nitrogen, under the head 
of sulphur, and the compounds of phosphorus with hydrogen and sulphur 
under phosphorus. This part of the work has been much extended, por- 
tions of it re-written, and the illustrations greatly increased in number and 
beauty. The subjects of water, atmospheric air, the varieties of phosphoric 
acid, and the oxygen compounds of chlorine, have been more especially im- 
proved. So much for the author, who, as Prof. Bridges justly remarks, has 
left but little for the Editor. Owing, however, to the publication of the 
English edition in small parts, at considerable intervals, several recent 
and important discoveries have been omitted in the English edition. The 
introduction of these, among which may be mentioned Deville's anhy- 
drous nitric acid and red phosphorus, and the correction of misprints and 
errors incident to all authors, and which the well known accuracy of Prof. 
Bridges is well calculated to meet, give a decided advantage to the Ameri- 
