SCHOOL CHEMISTRY OR PRACTICAL RUDIMENTS OF THE SCIENCE BY ROBERT DUNDAS THOMSON, M.D. F.R.SS.L. & E. &c. Medical Officer of Health, and Analyst, for St. Marylebone SECOND EDITION LONDON LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS PREFACE T has been said by Bergmann, that Natural History, IT or the study of animals, plants, and minerals, teaches us the elementary rudiments or alphabet of the great book of nature; Natural Philosophy instructs us in spelling; and Chemistry in reading distinctly. To serve as an introduction to such an important science generally, and also to extend a knowledge of its practical elements among those who influence the studies of the rising generation, are the objects of the present publication. The Natural Philosophy of the last century included, not only what is taught at the present day under that title, but likewise Chemistry and Astronomy. The two latter have now become distinct sciences, but they no longer, as they formerly did, constitute part of the usual studies of the clerical and scholastic professions; although the phenomena of which Chemistry treats are of the most familiar occurrence, and many of the laws which it developes of constant domestic application. These, too, afford easily appreciable proofs of design. But if we desire examples of a more sublime nature, we have only to consult the |