popular in our Medical Schools; and this, perhaps, is owing in a great measure to the fact, that the text books in general use, however well adapted to extend the information of those who are somewhat advanced in this science, possess for the novice a character too abstract and uninviting; hence, the pursuit itself is not unfrequently associated with the most unfavourable impressions in the mind of the student, while from the engrossment of his other studies he finally becomes not only disgusted with the work itself, but for ever brands the science with recollections calculated to insure for him, in future, an eternal repose from all the toils of chemical investigations. He redoubles his exertions in the pursuit of the other sciences connected with his profession, and ultimately satisfies himself that chemistry is of no utility to the physician. He finds, on entering upon the practice, that he experiences no embarrassment from his deficiency in the knowledge of chemistry, and is thus, from his experience, more fully convinced that its utility to the practitioner of the healing art is exceedingly problematical. If he commit any errors from ignorance of this science, his ignorance itself prevents his discovery of them-and he prescribes with perfect fearlessness, medicines, whose improper admixture may sometimes render both inert or absolutely injurious.

Every day, indeed, presents instances of unchemical prescriptions, in which the ingredients either counteract each other in combination, or produce compounds of new properties, and often decidedly opposed in their operation to the object intended.

Thus it appears in what manner men, unacquainted with chemistry, may practice medicine, and remain insensible of their deficiencies. Should death follow their prescriptions, the plea of idiosyncracy, or some sudden change in the disease, suffices to blind the eyes of relatives, and to put to rest their own consciences. Nor does the fatal accident ensure the safety of future patients. The practitioner, not aware of his own ignorance, has no conception of the real cause of the catastrophe, and is ready to act the same part in a future tragedy. We have ourselves been, more than once, eye witnesses to medical prescriptions, perfectly inert, and directed in serious cases of disease, where either of the articles prescribed would have been useful; but the union of which, from its perfect inactivity, would have given to disease the reins of control, and probably to death an undisputed victim.

And to what cause is this evil to be traced, if not to a deficiency in medical education? In addition to the usual text books, were the student presented with a work like the Ele

ments of Medical Chemistry, especially during his initiatory studies, he would discover in its correct and attractive style, and in the copiousness and richness of its materials, enough to entertain his curiosity and rivet his attention, while the mere acquisition of chemical knowledge would in this manner become easy and delightful. The pursuit of this science would afford him pleasure in those hours when attention and interest are exhausted by the labour of research; and regarding its cultivation as a pleasure, he would ultimately become a proficient in the very science of which his ignorance would otherwise prove both fatal to his patients and disgraceful to himself.

In these Elements of Medical Chemistry, Dr. Paris displays a scientific accuracy of style, combined with all the charms of intellectual and classical embellishments; and his compositions present an excellent model to the emulation of young men who are anxious to add to their scientific knowledge the accomplishments of a polite and finished scholar. The work is devested of the superfluous and useless parts, which too frequently incumber elementary books, while it certainly possesses, for its size, more than an ordinary share of chemical information, judiciously arranged and condensed into a convenient form for the student. It derives also an additional value, from being "A Chemical Grammar to the author's Pharmacologia ;" a work, whose reputation stands so deservedly high, that any encomiums from us were entirely needless. Not the least of the excellencies of the Elements as a manual for the youthful student, is the easy and familiar manner in which the author introduces the doctrines and facts of Natural Philosophy, wherever they are connected with chemistry or with medicine. By this means, he still farther devests the subject of its abstract character, enlists the interest and curiosity of the reader, and communicates some knowledge of a kindred science, in the most pleasant and effectual manner.

Nor are medical readers alone capable of reaping the advantages of this author's labours. As an introductory work, we have no hesitation to recommend it to all classes of chemical students, as decidedly the best we have yet seen. It contains no useless matter; the subject is not obscured by any difficulties which could be avoided; and the manner of the author is perspicuous, simple, and chaste, rendering the matter as inviting as it can possibly be made. The medical observations introduced, so far from rendering the work less adapted to the common reader, we are persuaded, are of such a character as must yield additional interest to the work.

Some instances of the disposition too frequently manifested VOL. II.

3

by our British relatives, to slight or condemn whatever emanates from the genius or learning of our own countrymen, we could not but observe. We would not severely or unjustly animadvert on this topic'; yet as an instance, it appears to us totally unaccountable how our author, in enumerating the artificial means of producing heat, (vide p. 184,) could pass entirely unnoticed, the compound blow pipe of Professor Hare, an invention as creditable to its author, and a means of generating intense heat, as important, curious, and useful, as any mentioned.

In scientific works, we have a right to expect more liberality than we have been accustomed to receive from the English press; and we cannot but regard omissions, such as the present, as derogating from the character of an author, injurious (at least in this country) to the reputation of his work, and calculated rather to betray the bitterness of an ungenerous rival, than to sink the claims of a meritorious individual.

In the prefatory dialogue, the medical student will find some valuable remarks on the direction of his studies; and though some of them are trite, there prevails through the whole a general spirit of correctness and pertinency. The error, that chemistry is not essential to a practitioner, is here triumphantly refuted; and we were much gratified with the sentiments of the author on the subject of the preliminary education of a physician. If they were reduced to practice in this country, generally, we would have fewer physicians, it is true, but the deficiency would be more than compensated by the high character the profession would sustain from the superior talents and acquirements of its members. After recommending that the candidate for medical honours should first receive the advantages of Oxford or Cambridge, the author exclaims, “Is technical knowledge all that is required for the accomplished physician? Do not the liberal pursuits, which are so successfully cultivated at those seats of learning, contribute to the elevation of the understanding, to say nothing of the gentlemanly manners and feelings which are thus acquired by intercourse with the most exalted characters of the age?"

To conclude, we must say, that the publishers of this work deserve, from the public, the most liberal encouragement. To their enterprise and discernment we owe the advantages to be anticipated from the general adoption of this book in teaching chemistry to medical students, in particular, and the best wish we can offer for their success is, that it may be proportionate to the merits of the work they have given to the American public.

The Mysterious Picture. By Wrangham Fitz Ramble, Esq. New-York, Collins & Hannay. 1825.

We must confess we have been very agreeably disappointed in the perusal of this little volume. From its unpromising title--for we detest all mysteries, from those of Mrs. Radcliffe to that of Lord Byron-and having a hint that the author had dipped his pen in satire, we were disposed to class this production with that endless swarm of common-place trash which daily issues from our presses, making such an eternal din about sentiment and virtue; the effusion of small-witted drivellers, who either very charitably profess to set the world to rights, or else unmercifully abuse it because it will not be set straight. It is really quite refreshing, among this farrago of second-hand opinions, wishy-washy sentiment, and sickly morality, to light now and then upon the wholesome viands of common sense and original thought, served up in plain and manly language. Although introduced without any flourish of trumpets, there is a keen perception of whatever is weak and ludicrous, and a rich vein of satire, evinced in this volume; and at the same time a tone of sound morality and justness of thought, which proves it the offspring of no common mind. There is, besides, a boldness of design, and masterly handling, (the reader will remember we are speaking of a picture,) that shows we are not engaged with a raw hand; and we are much mistaken if this should prove to be the unfledged bantling of a tyro. In that insight into character, that ready detection and exposure of motive, and above all, in that skill in piercing into the most subtle windings of the most cunning of all labyrinths, the human heart, and ferreting out all the little follies and weaknesses that lurk there, our writer reminds us of the celebrated author of "L' Hermite de Chaussée d' Antin." There is not so much point and vivacity of expression in his satire, but its aim and object is of an equally high order. The manner in which these speculations are introduced, is by no means original, and we think a little clumsy. Like Don Cleofas, who was taken by the Devil to the top of a high steeple, and enabled, by unroofing the houses, to observe all that was going on beneath, our author is supposed to be taken to church by a Genius, who puts the people to sleep, (which feat, by the bye, it does not always take a Gerius to do,) and lifting up the top of their scull-caps, shows him what thoughts and fantasies are flitting through the mind of each. This exposure of folly, of frailty, and of crime, is called The Mysterious Picture; and if our artist has given any thing like a faint resemblance, we must congratulate ourselves that the fabled proposi

tion of Momus of old, was not acceded to, and that a merciful Creator has not permitted us to view, through a window in the breast, the recesses of our neighbour's bosoms.

The first compartment into which the picture is divided—it should rather be considered a coup d'œil of the whole-is entitled "Human Depravity." Here are exhibited, with a sickening faithfulness of detail, all those petty deceits, crafty plans for taking in and over-reaching our neighbour, and systems of deliberate fraud, which the love of mammon so abundantly offers to the deluded heart; which, while contriving plans to steal from others the filthy lucre of this world, is itself cheated of its most precious jewel. The writer lays no flattering unction to the broad loathsome ulcer thus exposed. The bandage is torn, perhaps rather roughly, from the swathed limb, and each distorted articulation, and festering sore, displayed to the glare of truth. But we must hasten to give a specimen of the style and manner of the writer. The following is a fair one. He is speaking of the evils of banking institutions, a subject on which public feeling is sensitively alive at the present mo

ment.

"Perhaps no subject was found so fruitful of mischief, as the banking system; like a great sleeping monster, it rises to its weekly meals, and gorges every thing within its power. It has no heart, no sympathy; all within its bosom is as cold as death; it delights in the cries of children, and the tears of women; it never rests, until it gets every thing within its bed, and what it cannot devour, it destroys by filth. Besides the misery it occasions to its incautious dealers, it is of itself the source of the blackest crime.

"I do not scruple to say, that I saw on that occasion acts of the most abominable nature, from its highest to its lowest officers. Directors were contriving schemes to serve themselves and friends with an illegal and undue proportion of the joint and trust fund; some were actually engaged in covenous designs to embezzle it. Clerks were preparing to purloin thousands by various stratagems; some by saying they were knocked down and robbed; others by false keys; some by incendiaries, and others intended to run away altogether. Other officers imagined they could cheat the bank by keeping false books and forging checks, and many other such horrid acts were designed against the institution by its own members. Then again it threw out such temptations to the world. I saw some individuals burrowing under the ground like moles, to get to its vaults; others were making false keys; a great many were counterfeiting bills, while others were making a curious chemical preparation to change their amount. All kinds of plans and inventions were in train, either to make, alter, forge, counterfeit, or steal bank money; to break open merchants' shops, to rob desks and counter drawers, pick pockets, and especially to filch pocket-books; so that I could not but believe, and such is my honest conviction, that if the whole institution could be swallowed up as by an earthquake, leaving not a vestige behind, that with it would disappear one half of the crime and its demoralizing effects, which at present so deeply corrupt the frame of society; and as to the increase of private hap