376  EDITORIAL. 
cupies  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  carrying  on  its  commerce,  not  by- 
steam  and  water,  but  by  the  mule  load,  and  over  such  a  distance  from  the 
sea  coast,  that  the  time  occupied  by  each  caravan  in  going  and  returning  is 
from  ten  to  twelve  months. 
"  That  this  state  of  things  should,  in  the  middle  of  the  19th  century,  be 
found  to  exist  in  the  middle  of  South  America,  upon  one  of  the  finest  steam- 
boat water  courses  in  the  world,  whose  navigable  tributaries  are  owned  by 
no  less  than  five  separate  and  independent  nations,  and  which  the  '  policy 
of  commerce'  has  not  yet  been  demanded  to  be  thrown  wide  open  to  navi- 
gation and  commerce,  will,  in  after  times,  be  regarded  as  more  wonderful 
than  any  other  reality  of  this  wonderful  region. 
"  Nay,  Brazil  has,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  this  very  capital,  and  by  easy 
portage,  the  navigable  waters  of  her  own  Amazon  ;  and  yet  so  fearful  has 
she  been  that  the  steamboats  on  those  waters  would  reveal  to  the  world  the 
exceeding  great  riches  of  this  province,  that  we  have  here  re-enacted  under 
our  own  eyes  a  worse  than  Japanese  policy,  for  it  excludes  from  settlement 
and  cultivation,  from  commerce  and  civilization,  the  finest  country  in  the 
world.  The  Atlantic  slopes  of  South  America  form  a  country  which  is 
larger  than  the  continent  of  Europe,  in  which  there  is  an  everlasting  harvest 
of  the  fruits  of  the  earth." 
Written  originally  for  the  columns  of  a  newspaper,  the  letters  of 
Lieut.  Maury  are  not  marked  with  that  accuracy  and  precision  of  language 
that  might  be  looked  for  from  so  eminent  a  source,  as  it  is  by  no  means 
difficult  to  point  out  errors  of  fact  as  well  as  of  inference,  nor  can  it  be 
disguised  that  an  exaggerated  expression  characterizes  his  pages  ;  yet  with 
so  glorious  a  theme  anonymously  expatiated  upon,  we  can  well  excuse 
these  lesser  defects  in  the  interest  he  excites,  and  for  the  truly  national  and 
liberal  spirit  he  exhibits. 
Principles  of  Organic  and  Physiological  Chemistry.  By  Carl  Lowig,  M.  D., 
Ph.  D.,  Ordinary  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  University  of  Zurich,  &c. 
Translated  by  Daniel  Breed.  M.  J).,  of  the  U.  S.  Patent  Office.  Philada., 
A.  Hart,  1853  :  pp.  481,  oct.  ' 
After  having  looked  over  this  volume,  and  read  parts  of  it  with  attention, 
we  acknowledge  ourselves  gratified  with  the  work  as  a  valuable  accession  to 
our  chemical  literature,  and  not  the  less  so  that  the  agent  to  whose  indus- 
try we  owe  it,  is  one  of  our  countrymen.  Dr.  Breed,  during  his  sojourn  in 
Europe,  studied  first  at  Giessen  with  Liebig,  and  afterwards  with  Lowig  at 
Zurich.  Whilst  in  constant  intercourse  with  the  latter,  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  translating  his  "  Principles  of  Organic  and  Physiological  Che- 
mistry," and  executed  a  large  portion  of  it.  Notwithstanding  the  complex 
nomenclature  and  the  numerous  formula?  which  made  it  a  work  of  great 
difficulty,  w7e  believe  the  translator  has  been  unusually  successful  in  render- 
ing the  original  into  English.  The  book,  in  its  style  of  execution,  is  credit- 
able to  the  publisher.    Let  us  now  take  a  glance  at  its  contents,  and  see 
