REVIEW. 
371 
have exerted themselves to render the Encyclopedia a new 
as well as full treatise on Chemistry. 
The alphabetical arrangement of subjects characteristic 
of an Encyclopedia has, as applied to this science, both pe- 
culiar advantages and disadvantages ; but it is probable that 
for a work of popular character, and one destined for a com- 
paratively extended circulation, the latter far outweigh the 
former. If much of the system of the subject is by this 
means sacrificed, and much of the beautifiul relations and 
dependencies between the different departments, and the 
varying reactions of this extensive branch of knowledge, 
overlooked, which contribute so much to its unity, simplicity, 
and precision, and indeed constitute chiefly its claims to the 
character of a science, there is gained on the other hand the 
great convenience of a classification best adapted to facili- 
tate a ready reference, — a desideratum occasionally of no 
slight advantage even to the professional adept, and of in- 
valuable utility to the student and the tyro. Besides which, 
this mode of arrangement seems best adapted to receive the 
additions or modifications continually rendered necessary by 
the never-resting advance of chemical discovery, and to per- 
mit their incorporation in the work with least violence to its 
previous order or general character. 
In looking over this work, there seemed to us a striking 
deficiency in its plan — in the absence of an introductory 
chapter, giving a general view of the subject detailed in its 
pages. Considering the necessarily isolated nature of its 
disquisitions, it is almost an essential that it should open with 
a brief treatise, comprising a concise account of the objects, 
province, and limits of the science, a history of its progress, 
including a sketch of the more important discoveries which 
have constituted its epochs ; and finally a notice of the bar- 
riers which seem to stand in the way of its more abstruse 
researches, and incidentally thereto, a review of the more 
striking mirabilia which present themselves to the chemical 
student to startle and delight only to dissatisfy and bewilder 
