Surely the terms oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and caloric, may be learnt and retained with as much ease as adjective, participle, preposition, and interjection; independent of the perpetual connexion there is between the former and the several branches of the science; which circumstance soon renders all these terms extremely familiar.

The curious facts attending the vegetation of plants, and the metamorphoses of insects, are very properly allowed to occupy the earliest attention of children; but are not all the wonders of nature adapted to make indelible impressions on the young mind*; and can you conceive of any thing so likely to rouse the curiosity, as those striking changes which substances undergo in a series of well chosen chymical experiments?

Moreover, it is universally allowed, that in education nothing is so difficult as to induce young people to exercise the faculty of reflection, though no habit can be more important, or more necessary to be induced early; especially as it is an operation of the mind which requires exertion, and which is tiresome even to adults, unless they have been early accustomed to it. Now what can be so likely to create this habit, as the unexpected little exhibitions with which a chymical parent may occasionally surprise his child? And besides, if the experiments be judiciously chosen, and are such as may be begun and finished in a short time, the youth will find himself so much interested, that other important habits will gradually be induced; especially the habit of application, without which all other acquirements will be of little value.

Should it be imagined that the chymical lessons and experiments alone will be insufficient to induce these habits, several auxiliaries may be found; such as an occasional exhibition of the mechanical powers; models of machinery; dissected maps; portraits of men eminent for virtue and talents; collections of ancient coins, minerals, and fossils; preserved insects; and botanical specimens; all, or part of which, with a small chymical apparatus, would surely afford an ample entertainment for those hours which are not occupied by boisterous sports, or athletic exercises.

This mode of employing the first years would have another advantage; it would in time entirely supersede the necessity of small toys, which give a frivolity to the mind, and at best can only afford a temporary gratification; so that then nothing would remain

produce a taste for chymistry; and with what facility and precision the ideas and principles concerning the nature of bodies, fix themselves in the minds of the auditors."-Chaptal.

* "In children there is an early tendency to contemplate the works of nature, and to inquire."-Lord Kaimes.

among the pupil's treasures, but such things as were calculated to impress some truth, or to promote health and vigour.

When these habits of reflection and application are in some measure acquired, it may perhaps be advisable to direct the attention to other subjects in conjunction with chymistry:—if so, short and detached conversations upon the motions of the heavenly bodies; or short readings in natural history* might occasionally be resorted to with great advantage; or the sexual system of plants might be explained, without any danger of overburdening the memory, or producing any inconvenience whatever. Innumerable opportunities will hence occur of pointing out, that the variety discoverable in the vegetable tribes, and in the arrangements to bring each to maturity, was designed to contribute to the convenience of man, and to promote the comfort and happiness of the inferior creation. A frequent attention to these subjects will necessarily and imperceptibly impress the young mind with the assurance, that the DEITY is really good, and that he has provided for the felicity of every the most minute and insignificant of his creatures. But when he comes to enter fully into the science of chymistry, and to observe the infinite variety of contrivance to effect the designs of the Creator, and which will obtrude themselves upon him on every side, he will be lost in astonishment, and will often give vent to his feelings in artless expressions of gratitude and admiration.

With a mind previously prepared to attribute every effect to the contrivance of a BEING, whose consummate wisdom is never exercised but in conjunction with infinite goodness, he will enter upon the study of chymistry with peculiar advantage; at every step some new beauty will discover itself to his enraptured mind, and while the several substances collected for experiment are undergoing changes as astonishing as various, in the hands of his preceptor, his attention will be engrossed, not only in consequence of the amusement which these little manipulations afford him, but by the beautiful simplicity and permanency of those laws by which the several affinities are regulated and directed. The beneficial and salutary tendency of several of these arrangements will soon become more and more apparent; and if some favourable opportunities be embraced of pointing out what would have been

Natural history is intimately connected with chymistry, as it must depend upon this science for any elucidation of the minute properties of those substances, the outward characters of which it describes; so that what Mr. Dayes has said of the painter, may, with greater truth, be said of the chymist. "The volume of NATURE is laid open to him: his attention is directed to the vast and to the minute; and his imagination clings to perfection with Sheffable delight.”

the consequences of a different constitution of things, such indelible impressions in favour of goodness and beneficence will be made upon the young mind, as cannot fail to have a happy influence in forming the character, and meliorating the heart.

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.

Having extended this address to a length which I did not intend, I have only to recommend it to you, who are parents, to consider the importance of an assiduous and early cultivation of the understanding.

If a proper attention has been paid in infancy to the regulation of the dispositions and affections, you will find your children tractable and docile. Economize then their time; husband well their early years; and, instead of driving them to servants for their amusements, let them feel that their curiosity is always best gratified by you, and that their sweetest pleasures are derived from. an intercourse with you. With these feelings their confidence will be entire and unreserved; to you all the questions of an infantile curiosity will be addressed, and to no other will they ever think of looking either for information or reward. A wise parent then will not lose a moment of this inviting season, but will sedulously watch every opportunity of committing good seed to soil so well prepared for its reception. He may differ from the generality of mankind as to the relative importance which he attaches to different branches of knowledge; but which ever is thought to be most valuable, and best calculated for these early days, will surely be made choice of, and explained with perspicuity and kindness.

Were parents sufficiently sensible of the importance of the first years of life, and would, as early as possible, contribute to the utmost of their power to inform the mind, and humanize the heart, we might expect to have a rational system of education acted upon by the middling and higher ranks of life; the result of which would soon be perceptible in all classes of society. Our nobility would hence be entitled to all the respect which would necessarily attach to the liberal applications of large incomes to the promotion of the public good, and to the acquisition and promulgation of knowledge; our magistrates would be upright, humane, und intel

ligent; our clergy would be the repositories of recondite erudition, and eminent examples of the effect of religion upon the character, when devested of all bigotry, mystery, and fanaticism; our merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen, would be economical, industrious, enterprising, and ingenious; and our country gentlemen," instead of giving themselves to the fowls of the air, and to the beast of the field," would be qualified to cultivate their estates upon scientific principles, and to enjoy their retirements with philosophic minds.

The Pupil is advised to go through the Catechetical Part of each Chapter before he attends to the Notes; for, as the Questions generally arise out of the preceding Answers, the connexion of the whole will be best perceived by this method, and will be most likely to be remembered.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY AND MISCELLANEOUS.

WHAT is Chymistry?

Chymistry* is the science which teaches the art of examining natural bodies, and of investigating their peculiar properties+. How do chymists examine the properties of bodies?

The chymical examination of bodies is in general effected by producing a change‡ in the nature or state of the body under examination§.

* The following definitions of chymistry have been given by some of our best chymists. That in the text was chosen on account of its plainness, and because it was sufficiently concise to be committed to memory.

"Chymistry is the study of the effects of heat and mixture, with the view of discovering their general and subordinate laws, and of improving the useful arts."-Dr. Black's Lectures, vol. 1, 12.

"Chymistry is that science which treats of those events or changes in natural bodies which are not accompanied by sensible motions."-Dr. Thomson, vol. 1.3.

"Chymistry is a science by which we become acquainted with the intimate and reciprocal action of all the bodies in nature upon each other."-Fourcroy's General System of Chymical Knowledge.

The basis of chymical science is the analytical examination of the works of nature, and the investigation of the properties and uses of the several substances with which we are acquainted: it should therefore be the first concern of every chymical student to receive nothing as true but what has actually been proved by experiment or analogy. Let him rely upon nothing but facts, and he will be in little danger of forming extravagant or erroneous opinions. If we " dare to investigate Nature, we must see her and try her on all sides, and be sure that she still confesses the same thing.

This change is frequently effected by the addition of some other substance, which forms a combination with a part of the substance under examination, and leaves the other part in a detached state. On this principle re-agents, or chymical tests, are employed, the operation of which will be explained as we proceed.

To the eye many substances appear similar to other substances, though they possess different, and perhaps opposite, qualities; it therefore became