Her heaving breast with sudden frenzy swell'd ; Lists to each sound that Zephyr's wings convey; Vol. II. P. 200. The work is closed with some poems in foreign languages, many of which have considerable merit; but we do not know that they come under the rule of quotation which we have laid down for ourselves. The Editor appears so partial to Bishop Lowth's Latin poems, that we are rather surprised at the omission of his elegant and pathetic Epitaph on bis Daughter. We have been liberal of our quotations, thinking that our readers would be better pleased with the poetry of other persons than with our prose. We have only to add, that the volumes are neatly printed, though we wish we had more cause to commend the care of the printer, for we have been offended with some sad blunders. These, however, detract little or nothing from the merit of the work, upon which we can safely pass a sentence of approbation. The Editor modestly professes that his design is "to do good," and we trust it will be fulfilled in the comfort and instruction afforded to many a feeble and devout Christian, long after he shall have been called to receive his reward for faithfully copying the example of his Master. ART. IV. The Use of the Blowpipe, in Chemical Analysis, and in the Examination of Minerals. By J. J. Berzelius, Member of the Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, &c. Translated from the French of M. Fresnel, by J. G. Children, F.R.S. L. and E. F.L.S. M.G. &c. with numerous Additions, by the Translator. 1 vol. 8vo. Baldwin and Co. 1822. WE beg leave to congratulate the Philosophical World on the appearance of this excellent translation of the celebrated work of Professor Berzelius. Of all the chemists in Europe, none, perhaps, was more fully qualified in every way than our author, to supply the long felt want of a work of this description; and Mr. Children has done an essential service to our countrymen, by presenting them with this valuable translation: and not less by enriching it with his own interesting and important additions. Among the various assistances of which the mineralogist can avail himself in determining the nature and composition of any substance which presents itself to his inspection, there is none to be compared with the characteristics which minerals develope when exposed to a flame excited by the blowpipe. A regular system of mineralogy, founded upon those characteristics, has been long a great desideratum in mineralogical science; so that by successively trying an unknown substance with the different tests which the use of the blowpipe affords, we might gradually ascertain its place in the system. Such a system, however, complete in all its parts, is hardly to be expected in the present state of the science: and, indeed, Professor Berzelius gives it as his opinion, that such a system, as far as it could be carried at present, would not sufficiently accomplish its object in enabling a person, without any other assistance, to discover the species, genus, and order of a mineral submitted to his examination. Still, however, this method, though not every thing required, is yet by far the most useful of any known, and when united with others, will readily enable the student, with a little experience, to attain the objects of his enquiries. A very excellent little work, arranged on the plan in question, was published some years since by Mr. Aikin, in which the various classes of minerals are distinguished by the phenomena they present before the blowpipe: this little work is noticed, with approbation, by Berzelius, who mentions, as a proof of the sagacity of its author, that he does not confound the kind of classification in question with the systematic arrangement on which the science, properly so called, proceeds: this mistake, he observes, is prevalent in Germany. He has himself, however, adopted the chemical system of classification; and shewn the various phenomena produced by the application of the blowpipe to the different substances; and thus has afforded the experimental enquirer the means of ascertaining the place of a mineral in the system according to its chemical composition. The first portion of the volume consists of a preface, a note to the reader, and a sketch of Berzelius's system of mineralogy, all by the translator, and both the former chiefly relating to some points connected with the latter. We hear tily concur with the translator in the very just encomiums he has bestowed upon his author. "We feel," with him "perfectly confident, that no apology for presenting this translation to the public, nor any eulogy on the author of the original work, are at all necessary. The name of Berzelius, as a skilful and patient experimenter, stands almost unrivalled; and the present Essay amply vindicates his claim to the high reputation he has acquired. It is an invaluable collection of important and new facts, and admirably supplies the want, which has long been felt and acknowledged, of a scientific practical treatise on the blowpipe." The translator next proceeds to apologise to his author for some liberties which he has taken with the work. Many of these, he says, consist merely in the omission of details which appeared to him unnecessary; but the most important are those which affect the peculiar chemical theory and symbols which Berzelius has adopted. Mr. Children has thought it advisable, wherever any expressions occur in the work founded on these principles, or wherever any of the symbols are employed, to substitute for them more common expressions not involving the peculiar hypothesis of his author, and to translate the algebraical symbols into words at full length. The discussion of these points occupies the principal part of the prefatory division of the work. A general explanation is next given of the leading principles of Berzelius's system of mineralogy. His arrangement is purely chemical; at the same time, the external forms and characters of the substances are employed as important secondary distinctions, although the chemical composition is the fundamental principle of arrangement. The chemical principle upon which the whole depends, is, "That the elements, of which minerals are composed, unite with forces proportionate to the differences that exist in their mutual electrical relations. Hence one or more electro-positive, and one or more electro-negative ingredients, must be found in every compound body: thus, if it be formed of oxides, for every ingredient which we call a base, another must act as an acid, although the latter, in its insulated state, may not have the sour taste and other properties by which acids, usually so called, are distinguished: such are silica and the oxides of titanium, columbium, and many other metallic oxides, so that all the immense series of earthy minerals may be classed after the same principles as salts. ingredient which acts as an acid in one case, may act as a base in another, according as it is electro-negative, or electro-positive, with respect to the substance it combines with: and consequently An in a combination of two acids, the weaker may serve as a base to the stronger. The order of arrangement depends on the electrochemical properties of the elements of which mineral substances are composed, proceeding from the most electro-negative oxygen, to the most electro-positive potassium: but as we are yet only very imperfectly acquainted with the electro-chemical relations of the simple bodies, we must be contented with an approximate arrangement." P. xxiii. Having thus just given the fundamental principle upon which Berzelius proceeds in his system, we will not enter into the details of it, but content ourselves with recommending them strongly to the attention of our readers, as given in the subsequent pages of the work. Before we proceed, however, it may be desirable to many of our readers to have a short sketch of the principle upon which the atomic theory proceeds; as that theory and certain deductions from it form the subjects of some discussion in the work before us. The doctrine of definite proportions or the atomic theory, is decidedly the most important extension which chemical science has received of late years. The establishment of these doctrines has done much towards imparting a mathematical precision to our views of chemical composition. It was observed, that, when one substance forms with another several different compounds, according to the different proportions of that second body, with which it unites, then, the numbers which express those proportions of the second body by weight, are always multiples by a whole number of the first of them; and if these be reduced to their lowest terms, and the weight of the first body be expressed by a number proportionally reduced, this number for the first body, and unity for the other, give what are called the atomic weights of the two bodies. And it was further observed, that the number being thus determined for the first body, if that body became, in its turn, united to another in several proportions, the weights of it in each of those proportions, are exact multiples of that precise number which was in the former case taken as its atomic weight. In this way every substance in chemistry has a particular number affixed to it; and we owe to Mr. Dalton the ingenious idea that these numbers represent the weights of an atom of each body; for as there cannot be a combination of atoms, except in numbers which are whole multiples of each other, (a fraction of an atom being an absurdity) and as chemical combinations must be formed by unions among the ultimate atoms of bodies, so we can only account for the differences of the numbers above mentioned, by supposing the atoms of different bodies to be of different weights. This beautiful theory, which has opened to us a vast variety of new ideas respecting the phenomena of nature, has been ably and successfully studied and improved by many of the most eminent chemists of the age. In our own country no man has done more for it than Dr. Thomson; and in foreign countries Berzelius stands foremost on the list of those chemists who have directed their labours to the extension and improvement of the atomic theory. He has made many important observations, some of which are collected in certain general rules known by the name of Berzelius's canons. One of these Mr. Children has alluded to as more closely connected with the mineralogical system and symbols of his author, it is this: 1 "When two elements combine, one of them is always supposed to be electro-positive, and one electro-negative with respect to the other. And compound atoms of the first order (that is, composed of only two simple elementary atoms) having a common electronegative element, always combine in such proportions that the number of atoms of the electro-negative element of one, is a multiple by a whole number of that same number in the other.” Mr. Children regards this canon as differing in nothing essential from the common doctrine of chemical proportions, and that in fact it is merely an hypothetical extension of it. With the greatest deference to the high chemical abilities. and fame of Mr. C. we cannot help remarking that we think his observations on this point somewhat unfounded. The canon of Berzelius is an extension of the atomic theory, but surely not an hypothetical one; at least it is not more hypothetical than the whole of that theory itself is. It surely cannot be considered as differing in nothing essential from the common theory; it expresses what its author at least believes to be a general fact. If that fact is not true, or not general, let it be shewn that such is the case, and the canon falls to the ground. It appears that in a subsequent part of the work, the author had given the atomic composition of each mineral which he describes, expressed in the symbolical notation which he adopts, and the atomic numbers assumed in compliance with another part of his theory. The translator has given the substance of these statements in words at length, in a continued series of notes to that part of the work in which they occur. It appears from "a note to the reader" following the preface that he considers himself guilty of some "errors" in |