A Dictionary of Chemistry. By Henry Watts, B.A., F.CJ.S., &e.
Part!. (Longman and Co.).—Messrs. Longman have at length issued the first part of their long-promised " Dictionary of Chemistry"—a work the want of which has, we will venture to say, been often felt by all real students of the science in this country. The book professes to be founded on Dr. TJre's venerable dictionary ; but it is, in fact, an entirely new work. Its execution has been entrusted to as able hands as could well have been found. Mr. Watts, the editor, is well known as one of the best chemical writers of the day ; and he has been assisted by a number of gentlemen whose scientific attainments eminently qualify them for the task that they have undertaken. The work is devoted to pure, rather than to applied chemistry, the wants of the latter branch of this science having been already treated in Mr. Hunt's "Dictionary of Manufactures," which has recently been published by the same firm. In a book of this kind originality is, of course, not to be looked for. Mr. Watts and his contributors have, as might be expected, availed themselves largely of the admirable but unwieldy " Handwortesbuch der Chemie ;" and the result of their labours will be to supply an adequate English equivalent for that great work. Some of the most important articles in the present number, which extends to Ammoniacal Salts, are on theo- retical subjects, and we would especially direct the attention of the scientific reader to a really admirable paper on Acids, by Mr. G. C. Foster. If, as there is every reason to believe will be the case, the work is carried on as efficiently as it has.,been commenced, it cannot fail to be a really important addition to the scientific literature of England.
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