pense by chemical means; and by the proper application of chemical agents, other brown tallows may be rendered beautifully white, and fit for the best purposes.

Where great quantities of candles are used, as in large manufactories, mines, collieries, &c. a great saving would arise from the use of carburetted hydrogen gas, which produces a beautiful intense light, much more cleanly than oil or tallow, and at little or no expense. A slight knowledge of the mode of managing the gases would enable the proprietor of collieries to procure this gas from the small coal, which is trodden underfoot, and to light up his coal-pits with it with the greatest safety, and at NO EXPENSE. If this mode were adopted, the workmen would be lighted much better than they can possibly be by any other means; thousands of pounds would be annually saved to the community; and the many tons of tallow, which are now consuming in these subterranean works, might be used in the manufacture of soap; which would tend to lower the price of that necessary article, and render our poor more healthy and comfortable.

The BREWING OF FERMENTED LIQUORS, a trade of considerable consequence in the metropolis, is altogether a chemical process. To those persons, whose concerns are so large that it would require a princely fortune to purchase even the utensils, it must surely be of the utmost importance to acquire some knowledge of the principles of bodies, and of the nature of those changes which take place in the materials upon which they operate. I would therefore say to such persons, Give your sons a chemical education, and you will fit them for conducting in the best possible manner, the business which you have established. Hence they will learn how the barley, in the first instance,

is converted to a saccharine substance by malting; how the fermentative process converts the saccharine to a spirituous substance; and how the latter, by a continuation of the process, becomes changed into vinegar. The nature of fermentation (which till lately was entirely unknown) will be studied and understood; and they will not only have learnt the means of promoting and encouraging this process, but how to retard and check it, whenever it is likely to be carried too far; so that the scientific brewer will be as sure of uniformly obtaining satisfactory results, as he would if he were operating on matter by mere mechanical

means.

In like manner the DISTILLER, the maker of SWEET WINES, and the VINEGAR MANUFACTURER, will all receive benefit from the cultivation of the science we are recommending. Till the promulgation of the new chemical doctrines, the making of vinegar was carried on like many other trades, in which the makers themselves had no idea of the nature of their own process. An acquaintance with chemistry will teach them many important matters; particularly how it is that the spirituous fermentation is succeeded by the acetous; and how the liquor acquires the substance necessary to produce this change. When this is once known, they will soon find by experiment how to oxygenise their wash at the least expense, and in the least possible time. Indeed, when chemical knowledge is more advanced, the process which now takes several months will probably be completed in as many days.

The REFINING OF SUGAR is also a chemical process; every branch of which depends upon laws well known to chemists. The separation of the sugar from the molasses; the absorption of the superabundant acid; the granulation. of the purified sugar; and the crystallization of candy; will

* There is a valuable paper on malting in the fifth volume of the Memoirs of the Manchester Society, by Mr. Joseph Collier.

all be conducted most economically, and with the least difficulty, by those who have studied the science with a view to the improvement of their art.

The REFINING OF GOLD AND SILVER may appear to be merely a mechanical operation; but even in this trade the artist cannot produce a single effect which is not attributable to the play of the chemical affinities. Besides, there is great reason to believe that a considerable portion of silver is often lost in the process which succeeds that of quartation, by the blue water being removed to the verditer-vats before the whole of the silver has been precipitated. A knowledge of chemical principles would suggest to the refiner a mode by which, without the aid of any apparatus, he might in an instant detect even a tenth of a grain of that metal, if left in the solution.

The manufacturers of ALUM, of COPPERAS, of BLUE VITRIOL, and of all other SALTS, would likewise do well to become chemists, before they attempt to bring their several arts to the perfection of which they are capable. The crystallization of salts depends upon so many adventitious circumstances, that no small share of knowledge is necessary to enable a manufacturer at all times, and in all seasons, to produce the article he intends. Till lately the MAKERS OF ALUM bought alkalies of every description. An accurate analysis of alum has now discovered that potass and ammonia are the only alkalies which enter into the composition of alum; and consequently, that during a long series of years large sums have been expended by the manufacturer for an article of no use.

Even science itself is now reaping the benefit of its own discoveries. A few years ago, the MANUFACTURERS OF PAPER were apprehensive that it would be impossible to supply a quantity of that article fit for printing upon, adequate to the increasing demand. Necessity, however, often the source of new inventions, had recourse to chemistry;

and in this science, of universal application, found the means of improving the colour of the very coarsest materials; so that rags which formerly would have been thrown by for paper of the lowest description, are now rendered subservient to the progress of truth, and the promulgation of knowledge. And so easy is the application, that an immense quantity of the materials can be prepared in a few hours; and paper sufficient to print a copy of the largest work in the English language may thus be whitened at the expense of only a few pence.

In like manner it might be shown that the making of BREAD, SUGAR, STARCH, VARNISH, and OIL OF VITRIOL, the REFINING OF SALTPETRE, and the MANUFACTURES OF PRUSSIAN BLUE, CUDBEAR, ARCHILL, and other colours, are all dependent upon chemistry for their improvement and successful practice:-but I flatter myself that the examples already adduced are sufficient to show that chemistry is now a necessary branch of the education of youth. Even the management of a GARDEN may receive improvement from a cultivation of this science, as it explains the growth of vegetables, shows the use of the different manures, and directs the proper application of them.

The various operations of Nature,* and the changes which take place in the several substances around us, are so much better understood by an attention to the laws of chemistry, that in every walk of life the chemist has a manifest advantage over his illiterate neighbour. And it may be remarked, that in case of failure or disappointment in any particular line of commercial manufacture, the scientific chemist has resources as various as the produc

* "Man should observe all the workmanship and the particular workings of Nature, and meditate which of these may be transferred to the arts."--Lord Bacon's Advance ment of Learning, book v. 148.

tions of the country in which he lives, to which the unedu cated man has no access.*

Were parents aware of this truth, that sordid maxim primò vivere, deinde philosophari, would not be heard: but every youth would be instructed in the first principles of natural philosophy and chemistry, as the means of qualifying him for conducting with advantage the concerns with which he might be intrusted. If "knowledge is power," surely the love of knowledge, and a taste for accurate investigation, is the most likely way for conducting to opulence, respectability, and rational enjoyment.

Moreover, it is the necessary consequence of an attention to this science, that it gives the habit of investigation, and lays the foundation of an ardent and inquiring mind. If a youth has been taught to receive nothing as true, but what is the result of experiment, he will be in little danger of ever being led away by the insidious arts of sophistry, or of having his mind bewildered by fanaticism or superstition. The knowledge of facts is what he has been taught to esteem; and no reasoning, however specious, will ever induce him to receive as true what appears incongruous, or, cannot be recommended by demonstration or analogy.

* A very remarkable instance of a whole nation availing themselves of advantages presented to them by chemistry, in a case of the greatest emergency, may be seen in the Chemical Catechism, Additional Notes, No. 22.