ART. VI.-A Manual of Chemistry, containing the principal facts of the Science, arranged in the order in which they are discussed and illustrated in the Lectures of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. By WILLIAM THOMAS BRANDE, &c. &c. The first American, from the second London edition. Three volumes in one. To which are added, Notes and Emendations, by William James Macneven, M. D. Professor of Chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of the State of New-York, &c. 8vo. pp. 638. Long: New-York, 1821.

On reading this title there arises, at once, a strong presumption that a book, which is the text of the Chemical Lectures given at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, is a work of merit; and that the gentleman who was deemed worthy to be the successor of Sir H. Davy, in the chair of chemistry, is fully equal to its production. An expectation so just is not disappointed in the present instance; and Brande's Manual, considered as a class-book in the hands of an experienced professor, will be found the most useful of any of the elementary works we have seen.

Mr. Brande follows the arrangement made by Sir H. Davy in the elements of chemical philosophy. To the first division, ending with the simple acidifiable and inflammable substances, there is added a very serviceable tabular view of the specific gravities and equivalent numbers of the supporters of combustion and acidifiable substances, and of the compounds which they form with each other.

The second volume of the English edition begins with the consideration of the metals, and is nearly one half occupied with the assay and analysis of metalliferous compounds. This portion of the work is that in which, we think, it best deserves to be preferred to others professing the same general objects, and it is happily one of the greatest interest.

Another valuable table is placed at the end of this part, giving a view of the specific gravities and equivalent numbers of the metals and their compounds, the substances with whose examination it concludes.

The third volume, (for, by skillful authorship, the English edition is swelled out to three goodly tomes,) comprehends, as we find in other elementary works, the chemistry of vegetable and

animal substances, together with a third tabular view of the equivalent numbers of vegetable and animal products and their com binations.

By equivalent numbers is understood a numerical representation of the definite proportions in which chemical constituents are known to combine. They afford the most interesting views of compound bodies; they have been for years past, and they continue still to be, the most philosophical subject of research in the science of chemistry.

The whole doctrine embraced by these considerations, has received 'he name of the atomic theory. It is not omitted in the manual no treatise on chemistry can now leave it out; but we are surprised to find it in Brande's work, London edition, 1821, as imperfect in many respects, as when first promulgated by Dalton, in 1804, or as we find it by Sir H. Davy, in 1812. A period of so many years is an age in the history of chemistry, as now cultivated; and this subject in particular has, within this period, been a theme of successful investigation to many of the greatest chests living. That it should be presented to us in the most correct state in which it is now known, in a work expressly written for the use of learners, is no unreasonable expectation, whether the author have contributed or not by original researches to advance it; or he live on good or bad terms with those who did.

Among British philosophers, the able and learned editor of the Annals of Philosophy has given this doctrine its greatest and most accurate development. He has in a manner taken it out of the hands of his countrymen, equalling, if not surpassing the additions and improvements made to it on the neighbouring continent. But it happens that the philosophers of the Royal Institution have not become his fellow labourers in this field of science. There even exists a strong aversion on their part, or at least on that of one of them, to this rival editor and author. This has been manifest to the readers of the Journal of Science, long before it showed itself in so open and undisguised a manner as in the 11th volume of the Journal. Hence probably the defect we, have noticed. But for us, on this side the Atlantic, while we feel grateful to eminent persons who use their better opportunities for advancing the sciences we cultivate, without partiality or prejudice we take from each, be he friend or foe to the other, what each may have best; and we cheerfully give due credit to all.

The American edition of the manual of chemistry is evidently put forth in this spirit. The valuable discoveries and researches of Dr. Thompson are introduced, where they should have been placed before, and where nothing equal can probably be substituted, in the present state of our knowledge. In this respect we consider the American as having an advantage over the English edition, and as better suited to the purpose of a class book for students of chemistry. Another difference between the two, which we also deem an advantage in favour of the former, is the omission of a long dissertation on the history of chemistry. that occupies a third nearly of the first volume. An index that, with the help of many repetitions, is made to take up as much more of the third volume, is here very much abridged. They could not have been retained in the American edition consistently with the avowed plan of furnishing to the students of the University of New York a cheap and compendious, no less than a good and well arranged class book. In England, indeed, it may have best accorded with the views of the publisher to increase the quantity of letter press.

In adapting the representative numbers throughout the whole book to the present state of the science, the American editor has executed a task of more difficulty than show, and which demanded the application of a good deal of calculation and labour The amount of each will be very apparent to those who are most familiar with the subject.

The typographical part is as good as was consistent with cheapness; but the wood-cuts, executed by Anderson, are not inferior to those of the original, and are worthy of the reputation of that distinguished artist.

Shortly after the appearance of the Manual of Chemistry, there was published by the editor a tabular view of the modern nomenclature and system of Chemistry, more comprehensive than any of the same nature that we have yet seen. Such works, when well executed, are of great utility. They are to science what maps are to history and geography. The one before us exhibits, at one view, the several simple substances now known, their classification, derivation, the range of compounds which they produce by their intimate and varied union. as well as the character and distinctive termination of all these compounds. It is presumed that this table will afford to the chemical student great facilities for arrangement, recollection, and reference.

ART. VII. Report of a Committee of the Regents of the Uni versity of the State of New York, to whom were referred applications to the Board, for the incorporation of a College at Ithaca, and another at Geneva. Albany, March, 1822.

In pursuance of the report of their committee, the Board of Regents have determined to grant the applications for two new colleges, upon condition that the applicants for each institution, shall, within three years, raise a permanent fund that will be productive of $4,000 annually. This decision has caused much speculation in some of the public journals, and a great diversity of opinion as to its propriety. One writer, who has taken the field in defence of the decision of the Regents, vindicates the proposition, that each county in the state should have a literary institution, of equal rank with the colleges already in existence; and that the latter should be converted into Universities upon a broader scale, and of a much higher grade.

There is probably no country on earth, not even Scotland, where the rudiments of education are more generally diffused, than in our own. Among us, there are few who cannot read and write; and in the Eastern States, hardly one. Our farmers and mechanics are all able to keep their own accounts; they all are more or less acquainted with the history of our own country; peruse the papers of the day; and can all read, and derive instruction from their bibles. But of those who may be called literary men, how small is the number! Here and there a few, prompted, not by patronage, but by a native thirst for knowledge, have pushed their devious way through paths heretofore untrodden by their countrymen, and are striving to remove the reproaches which have often, but too justly, been cast upon us by the scholars of Europe. The character of our learning is strikingly similar to that of our riches. There is of both an almost equal distribution. Few are immensely rich; few are entirely destitute. There are scarcely any deeply learned-there is none wholly ignorant.

The time seems to have come when the genius of America is beginning to unfold her mental energies. Her youth has not been precocious. She has delighted in the exhibition of physical activity and strength, and has been amused by the lighter efforts of fancy, the sports of youthful enthusiasm: But

the vigor of manhood is at hand, and she begins to look around for the means of obtaining those acquirements which may enable her to assume an equal rank among her elder and more diligent sisters of the European world. The prospect is not so flattering as we could wish. There have been no means by which mind in America could be trained to compete with mind in Europe. We have mathematicians and astronomers, whose native powers, perhaps, are not inferior to those of Newton; but they cannot cope with La Place, and Leslie, and perhaps with a hundred others; not because of the want of powers, but chiefly on account of a defective system of education, and for the want of means to make the proper application of what they have been able to acquire. It is the remark of the first astronomer in our country, that there is not a spot on our continent where proper observations could have been taken of the last comet, for want of the requisite apparatus. We have our botanists, our chemists, our philosophers, both natural and moral, and our classical and biblical scholars; but, painful as is the confession, they are not to be named with J. E. Smith, with Davy, or Brande; with Cuvier, with Stewart, or Brown; with Wolf; with Eichorn, Gesenius or Marsh. That there are in our annals a few splendid exceptions, is matter of congratulation. Such were Frankiin, in natural philosophy, and Edwards in metaphysics. But they stood alone; they were splendid in spite of obstacles, not in consequence of opportunities; and the truth of the general observation is unquestionable.

The great reason of this inferiority lies in our defective system of education-in the want of that early and perfect discipline of the mind, by which its powers are called into constant and active exertion, and thus both expanded and invigorated. It matters less in what department of learning the youthful mind is first exercised, provided the subjects lie within its comprehension, than that it should be required, incessantly, to analyze, compare, select, and combine. In the schools of Europe, the languages are most generally adopted as the earliest objects of acquisition; not so much from the intrinsic value of the knowledge thus acquired, as for the exercise which it gives the mind, the effects thus produced by it, and the preparation it affords for more extensive studies. The same plan has been partially adopted among us, but with the omission of the most important feature which it presents. We allude to the prac