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    Jnur 7, 185S.] THJ3 HJ.J.DBB. 65S

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    MILLER'S ELEMETSTS OF CHEMISTRY. Element...

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    THE MONARCHY OF FRANCE. The Monarchy of ...

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    A. Batch Of Books. The World In The Midd...

    out to be no other than our friend Phoebus , the absence of whose shining face we have lately had so much occasion to lament . Twice does he , Pheenix or Phoebus , perform figurative duty : at p . 40 , celestially as Sun—Dwindling into a daily grave Perennial Phoenix- of the earth . And once again terrestrially ; at p . 75 , if not son , at least as heir to a Lord Otho , deceased— , Gay luminary prone to rise , Phoenix of Dives obsequies . » And more ; by metamorp hose more marvellous ( jhan a Malaprop could conceive , grows all at once , and at the same time , into a triune gentleman ; for we are told— He is the Lucifer of men ,

    The Saturn of historic pen , A Daniel in a lion ' s den ! We have learnt moreover that—Man is but dust when he is dead , and that there is a " moral" as well as a liquid gore ; the poet informing us that Moments there are , when murd rers feel The taint of poison , thrust of steel , Writhing in streams of moral gore , Worse than their victim writhed , before . The ftble belongs to the same school of originality . We renew acquaintance with the Hugos and Othos , Lauras and Allans , heavy fathers and antique sons-in-law , dutiful daughters and lawless lovers , eligible and ineligible , zaAvice versa , of immortal , poetastic memory , done into intolerable verse . Lord Hugo has land and a daughter , and as every lord , of course , has a right to do with his own as pleaseth him , Laura , to the loss of Allan , takes

    Otho for woxse : — Six months , then Midsummer supreme , Gilded , the world with golden beam ; And all seemed happy save the maid , To Otlio ruthlessly betrayed . Unhappy Lady Otho ! Meanwhile , or later , for the unities suffer as much as the lovers , Allan , whose sin was lackland , and who in fashionable parlance would be termed a scorpion , becomes misanthropic and professionally , Eke all rejected lovers of the turned-down-collar school of romance , a seaattorney . But to make a long story short , Allan turns up again at the un-¦ aemocial banquet , kills Otho , who , before he dies , does ditto to the maiden spouse ; and the epic ,, probably to illustrate the poetic signification of " moral gore , * -winds up by general massacre and moral . Here is the moral , which we hope may be profitable to all perplexed Lauras having to choose between the eligible and ineligible ef matrimony : — Better to slumber in the grave , Than be a tyrant ' s married slave !

    Jnur 7, 185s.] Thj3 Hj.J.Dbb. 65s

    Jnur 7 , 185 S . ] THJ 3 HJ . J . DBB . 65 S

    Miller's Elemetsts Of Chemistry. Element...

    MILLER'S ELEMETSTS OF CHEMISTRY . Elements of Chemistry . Theoretical and Practiced . By William Allen Miller , M . D ., F . R . S . Part . I . Chemical Physics . J- - Parker . Besiuk the many treatises on Chemistry published with precipitation , and without either very definite ideas respecting the wants of the public or very accurate acquaintance with the science they pretend to expound , a lew good solid works can be named which deserve the encouragement due to real labour and real merit . Dr . " Miller ' s Elements promises to take its place amon" the few . It is a conscientious book ; not hastily compiled , but the direcf product of thought and teaching . This is shown in the . illustrative illustrationsout

    . examples , which are remarkable , not only as being good , as quitting the beaten track of previous writers . Every reader of scientific treatises is aware of the fatiguing iteration with which one writer after another repeats the old examples . Dr . Miller saturates his book with new examples , which give freshness to his pages and serve to impress old truths . In general the exposition is remarkably clear ami simple ; and the very iatest discoveries find tUeir place here . Numerous woodcuts arc added ; and « K > fchinff is omitted which may facilitate the student's progress . There may seem something ungrateful in quarrelling with an author for « ivi » Fuatnatter which we confess to be valuable ; yet , althoug h we should Ee « orry to spare a . ingle chapter of this volume we are cornpelled to pro-The mistake is mistake of Method

    aovmce the whole volume a mistake . a , and shows how far we arc in England from a steady conception of the true philosophy of science . The volume is devoted to Chemical 1 hys . es-- a subject , " says Dr . Miller , •» upon which no elementary work has appeared in this country since the publication of the excellent treatise ot the lute Professor Daniel ; a subject , wo will add , winch has no r . ght . whatever to A special treatise ; for it is not Chemistry at all . bpecilic Gravity , Elasticity , Cohesion , Adhesion , Diffusion of Liquids , Crystallisation , Lig ht 1 eat Electricity , and Magnetism , which msiko up the topiosi of this volume belot g to the science of Physic * , and can only by a vicious disregard of nil Method bo called chemical . They have their applications m Chemistry , but so have Mathematics . The Chemist must master the laws of Physios beloie ho proceeds in chemical investigations , but he must master many other things wnion

    _ .. • • t-. .. „! . » i ... . i : a * .,.. fitit ra ( i < iu > iivi > -nowm * whieli sonic equally unchemical . For example , the different retractive power m » « SuWncea exercise on Light is to the chemist an index ol the nature oi the substance ; ho must conaLM . uently study Light and its phenomena an onoo his . preliminaries . Bui ; tins is no mure a reason lor transplanting o Physics , a section on Liglit , and placing it in a treatise on ^ j ^ ' ^' , **» » it would be for the introduction of a chapter on Arithmetic Dr . Mil lo Uiw ri « enu « na outline of certain sections oi the science oi Physics— an outline **«* , « s we said , is admirably sketched—but we cannot convert it into « kt « 2 fcry by calling it Chemical Physics . It » not chemiwl gj M . JLh uo «« y 4 u ^ been some « o , e «» i « y for instructing his pupils in toeac sxibjecto , hSUee owe system of education recognises no need tor a gradual "Jtwiw « Wto one science to another , and his pupils would for the most part enter

    the lecturer-room , quite umocenfc of Physics ; but what may be necessary with pupils is not necessary in a Scientific Treatise , and we must ; regard it as a serious error that Dr . Miller should have devoted a volume of his Treatise to subjects not rightfully belonging to it . - This objection is almost the only one we have to make ; and it is an . objection which in no way interferes with the usefulness of the book . There are some minor questions of detail upon which we might pat in a demurrer ; foT example ,, he states the law of chemical combination in Definite Proportions , thus : ** In eveiy chemical compound the nature and the proportions of its constituent elements are fixed , definite , and invariable . " Now this : is

    strictly true of Inorganic compounds , and strictly untrue of Organic compounds . It is true of a salt , but false of an anatomic element . Dr . Miller knows this as well as any one ; but in announcing the formula of Inorganic bodies he has left the Organic out of sight ; and hence his phrase " every chemical compound" becomes inexact . - It may be said indeed that organic bodies are not . properly speaking chemical compounds , and that the very in . d « terminateness of composition which characterises them raises them out of the class of chemical bodies ; and in this sense Dr . Miller ' s definition would be exact . But we do not think he has any such separation in iiis eye , beeause he announces , as a Third Part of his Treatise , an exposition of Organic Chemistrythus identifying organic with chemical bodies .

    , We look forward to the continuation of this work as to one likely to present the best exposition of the present state of chemical science , and as such we call the attention of our readers to it .

    The Monarchy Of France. The Monarchy Of ...

    THE MONARCHY OF FRANCE . The Monarchy of Franca : its & ise , Progress , and Fail . By William Tooke , F . R . SSampson Low and Son . It has been said of Tacitus , il abregeaittout parce qu'il voyait tout;— -there is little danger of the application of this remark to William Tooke , Esq ., F . R . S . If we may judge by the work before us , the organ of Causality is by no means highly developed in this gentleman's cranium . He professes to tell all that need he told of the history of France , unless one desire to make that subject his special and exclusive study . His object , he says , lt has been to convey in this condensed form to the English reader as much acquaintance with the continued tide of public and political events m France , under its monarchy , as it may import him to acquire , with a due regard to the more important demands on his attention of professional readin ° and research ; and of the large requirements of English history and biography in all their ramifications , not omitting the collateral claims of the ° continually increasing extent and interest of our miscellaneous

    hterature . In pursuance of this laudable purpose Mr . Tooke has collected the dry bones of the past and set them up by the aid of wires in the form of a tolerably correct skeleton ; but there are no natural ligaments , no fibres , no blood vessels . As an . aide-memoire of dates and proper names the book ia not without its use , but as to the causes and consequences of events , and the motives and characters of public men , it is wholly uninstructive . Though expressly founded on the aneie / it chronicles , this fat volume is meagre in the details that form their chief attraction , and is altogether devoidof the local colouring that imparts such a picturesque charm to those time-honoured narratives . And it is precisely at those periods when the moat diffuse information is desirable , that Mr . Tooke 5 s the most succinct

    and unsufestive . Thus , Charlemagne is disposed of ia nine pages of large type from which we learn little more than that in 779 this great monarch published " his Capitularies , requiring the payment of tithes , being the first . le"al endowment of them in France , according to Montesquieu . 1 hihp Augustus , indeed , is indulged with rather more space , but principally to record the unhappy fate of the beauteous Agnes ; while for more important matters we are referred to Messrs . Capefigue and G-. P . R . James . The separation of the royal lovers is . thus pathetically described : — The King had a last interview with her , before her departs , in an apartment of the palace , from whence were heard passionate sobs , vows , and even kisses . As if to atone for this episode , the character of Louis IX . is summed up " in a few epithets , the illustration of which would occupy volumes : — above

    He was pious , wiae ,, just , bravo , humane , and humble ; of a morality suspicion , and exemplary in the relations of son , husband , father , brother , and friend . Should this bo held too high an estimate of St . Louis , we would refer to his contemporary biographer , Joinvillo , and to the unvarying tenor of history . The portrait of Henry IV . is thrown oft' in the same undiscrinunating colours : — , , In manner and conversation Henry IV . . exhibited the utmost apparent frankness , combined with great tuct and adroitness ia never committing lumselt ; ho was bravo , impetuous , humane , occasionally by impulse unjust , upon calculation of results ungrateful , and constitutionally imperious and absolute . Maximilian de Berthune de Itomy , Duke of Sully , is justly describe *! as an " honest and wise minister , friend , and counsellor , " and the writer of " the best aecount of the character and actions oi his muster . And yet it would seem from what follows that Air . Tooke himself places no great confidence in Sully ' s statements ; for , after drily recording the assassination ot

    the king , he adds : — „ , , , It i .-i said ho was occupied at the time hi forming the scheme of a federal union ot Europe , divided into llfteon state ., to be called the Christian Republic : this suyyeihon does not rvstt on any sufficient authority . , It vests entirely on the authority of Henry the Fourth ' s favourite •«¦» ' * ^ and confidant , who has given - the best account oi the actions . u t Uib master . " In short , we are left in utter ignorance ot what we would . vu * h to know , while wo are bored with thrice refuted anecdotes and """""" jT ; tial details . Louis XIV . was « the very concrete oi ubsoluis . n with no alloy . " Richelieu is chiotly mentioned as the imsuucesHlul i v va | <> V > or neilfo . Mazarin was " an astute Italian ; » Michel do ' ^ I ^ Lx J c , t lo guidhed judge , who died in disgrace ; " and the Fron . le a » ™« P ^ * | . n » for an inexplicable object" » U the proceeding- ol J " ^ » l ^« Jj ^ in the Memoirs if the Cardinal do Uotz . and in scoros of contemporaiy

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07071855/page/19/