That one metal may precipitate another from its solution, it is not only necessary that the former have more attraction for oxygen, but that its oxyd attract the solvent with more force. In practice, when we want to separate one metal from its solution by another, in order to know its quantity, it is farther necessary that the new salt be soluble in water; that it be not decompounded by the addition of a large quantity of water; that the new oxyd be soluble in the same quantity of acid as the former; that the precipitant have not a greater tendency to decompound the solvent acid, than to take the oxygen from the dissolved metal; and that the precipitated metal be not capable of combining with the precipitant, which is commonly employed in excess.-The shortest process for analysing brass (and the author says that it is as exact as any other) is to dissolve a known quantity in nitric acid; to pour the solution into a phial with a stopper: to add caustic potash till there be an excess sensible to the taste; and to agitate the mixture immediately. After a few minutes' agitation, the whole is to be thrown on the filtre; through which the zinc passes dissolved in the potash, the oxyd of copper remaining. This being washed, and dried by a gentle heat, it is weighed; and the weight of the metal is known by deducting o. 35, the weight of the oxygen. Analysis of the Cobalt of Tunaberg. By M. TASSAERT. The author finds that cobalt, so purified that no test shews the slightest vestige of iron, is perfectly obedient to the magnet. Notice of some peculiar Matters found in Animal substances, treated by Nitric Acid. By M. WELTER. By treating silk with nitric acid, not only oxalic acid was obtained, but a yellow matter; which, on the addition of potash, formed a triple composition that exploded like gun-powder. M. WELTER calls the third ingredient amer. Observations on the Marine Acid. By M. TASSAERT. Dr. Girtanner having adduced a number of facts calculated to prove that hydrogen is the radical of the marine acid, M. TASSAERT here shews the irrelevancy of these facts; which, indeed, was already obvious to every intelligent reader. New Experiments on the Fusibility of mixed Earths, by virtue of the Action which they exert one on another. By M. GUYTON. This able philosopher proposes to ascertain the attractions of the earths both in the dry and the moist way. The present paper contains a very few facts to this purpose. Extract Extract from M. Haussman's Memoir on dyeing by Solutions of Tin, and the coloured Oxyds of this Metal. The observations contained in this paper are very interesting, not only with regard to the art of dyeing, but with respect to the chemical knowlege of the effects produced by metals at different degrees of oxygenation, the union of the oxyds with the solvents, and the compositions of which these oxyds are capable. Notes and Correspondence respecting Calculi. M. FOURCROY here announces that he and M. VAUQUELIN have discovered in calculi four substances, unobserved by their predecessors.-viz. urate of ammonia. 2. Ammoniaco magnesian phosphat. 3. Oxalate of lime. 4, Silex, but this has been found only in one specimen. He speaks of the solution of calculi in acids and alkalis, as so dilute as to be capable of introduction into the bladder without danger.-We shall be happy to see the complete work here announced. Reflections on the Analysis of Stones in general. By M. VAU QUELIN. The discovery of every new body alters the chemical tests for bodies of the same order. The author here describes the chemical processes necessary for the detection of the several earths; and they are very considerably different from those recommended by Bergman.-The present excellent paper well deserves translation. M. VAUQUELIN mentions his having found potash in the lepidolate of Rozena in Moravia, and in the green feld-spath of Siberia. Examination and Analysis of a Quartz, crystallized exactly like Dogtooth Spar. By M. GUYTON. M. G. concludes that this groupe was rather cast or moulded than produced by crystallization in free space. He mentions the acid of tartar as a test for potash, when mixed with soda. We have thus pursued the series of Numbers, to as late a date as we believe they have been received in this country. We finish for the present with No. 86; and we mean to pay the earliest attention to this work in future. ART. XII. Principes Elémentaires, &c. ; i. e. Elementary Principles of the natural and chemical History of Mineral Substances. By MATHURIN-JACQUES BRISSON, Member of the National Institute, and Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the Central Schools of Paris. 8vo. pp. 253. Paris. 1797. THE HE Crowd of modern publications on scientific subjects, 0 9 3 Bed...s. naturally divided into three classes. Some of them serve to increase our stock of knowlege; others, though containing no new discovery, are still useful on account of the clearness of arrangement by which they explain to many what is known to a few; and others may, for the most part, be considered as crude compilements, tending only to counteract instead of promoting the diffusion of true and useful science. The work now before us seems to belong to the second class. of publications, and to deserve a considerable degree of praise. It is divided into two Parts, viz. Lithology; in which the author treats of the earthy and stony substances; and Metallurgy, or the knowlege of metallic substances. He begins his Lithology by giving the definition and chemical characters of five primitive earths, lime, magnesia, barytes, alumina, and silica;-of the strontian and zircone, he speaks in a supple. ment at the end of the book. These primitive and hitherto undecompounded earths are sometimes combined with acids, and form the saline stones or terreous salts; sometimes are only mixed between them, and form the stones properly sa called; and these stones sometimes are mixed together and form what is called rocks, and at other times are altered in their nature by the fire of volcanoes. The author, consequently, divides the stones into four orders; 1. Saline stones; 2. Stones properly so called; 3, Rocks; 4. Stones which are the produce of volcanic fires. Each of these orders is divided into five genera, answering to the simple primitive earths; and these genera are again divided into species, according to the particular combinations with several principles: except the 4th order, which is only composed of three articles, the pumex, the lava, and the basaltes. The Metallurgical part of the work is divided into two orders; the first treats of the metals, and the second of the semi-metals. The metals are again divided into two genera; 1. Perfect, 2. Imperfect metals; according to the difference of their fixity when exposed to the action of fire. The first are gold, silver, and platina; the second are copper, iron, tin, and lead. The semi-metals he does not separate into genera, but examines them individually, and reckons eleven, viz. mercury, bismuth, cobalt, nickel, 'zine, antimony, tungsten, arsenic, manganese, molybdæna, and titanium. This part is concluded by tables of the properties of metallic substances under the following different heads; of their fixity when exposed to fire, ductility, fusibility, hardness, tenacity, elasticity, sonorous property, weight, oxidability, increase of weight by oxydation, affinity with the acids, acidification, and finally their adherence to mercury. Having sketched the outlines of this elementary work, it remains only to say that, though professedly the author does not intend to give any thing new, he deserves well of science on account of the clearness which pervades the whole book, and the selection of the ideas which he conveys to the young readers for whom it is chiefly designed; and for having condensed so much useful information in a small volume, without any confusion. ART. XIII. Foyage Pittoresque, &c.; i. e. A Picturesque Tour TH HIS truly magnificent work will consist of three volumes; the first of which is intended for the northern Syria, the second for Colosyria and Phoenicia, the third for Palestine and the Lower Egypt. Each volume will contain, besides the corresponding plates, a preliminary discourse by the celebrated Volney, (well known by his former publications respecting the same countries, and by his fanciful and revolutionary work entitled The Ruins *,) followed by a proportionate quantity of letter-press, giving an account of the excursions and ob servations of the author. This part of the work has been revised and digested, by Messieurs La Porte du Theil, Le Grand, and Langles; the first of whom superintends the historical part and the recital of the journey; the second, what concerns the architecture; and the third, what relates to the Oriental languages and inscriptions. The plates, which are to appear before the letter-press is published, will be accompanied by short explanations of the subjects represented; which is the case with respect to the six plates composing this Number. Corrêa. The first of the plates before us represents the Cenotaph of Caius Caesar, the grandchild of Augustus, situated near Hhems (the antient Emesa) in Syria; together with an Eastern Caravan, resting near the spot, and a distant prospect of Mount Lebanon. In the second, we find a view of part of the village of Cana in Galilee, in the road from Nazareth to Mount Tabor: with a fountain, and a groupe of the present inhabitants, chiefly women, dressed in their actual costume. The third plate gives a general perspective view of Jerusalem, in its present state, taken from the Mount of Olives, beyond the brook Cedron; affording a prospect of the Valley of Josaphat, Mount *Sec Review, N. S. vol. vi. p. 547 Q94 Sion, Sion, and the Mosque which now occupies the place of the Temple of Solomon. The two following plates represent the whole of the front, and some particular details, of the building called the Tomb of the Kings of Juda; which the author, on very plausible grounds, conjectures to be of a more modern date; referable, perhaps, to the reign of Constantine the Great. He thinks that in this curious monument might be traced the Egyptian solid system of building, blended with the decorations of the Grecian Doric order, and the Roman taste in the entablature and its ornaments; while the execution of the whole appears to him to belong to the Greek artificers of the Constantine period. The sixth and last plate represents a groupe of female fortune-tellers, on the banks of the Nile, and the Turkish villas on the isle of Raoudhah, opposite to the antient Memphis. Great taste is displayed in the composition of the original drawings, which generally convey to the beholder instructive ideas respecting both the antient and the present state of the country. The typographical part, and the engraving of the plates, are beautiful, and class this work among the most elegant productions of the French presses. Corrêa ART. XIV. Voyage Pittoresque, &c.; i. e. A Picturesque Tour through Istria and Dalmatia; the Original Drawings by M. Cassas, &c. &c. Folio. Numbers I. to IV. Paris, 1798. Imported by Taylor, 56, High Holborn. FEW years ago, the Abbé de Saint Non published, in France, a Picturesque Journey through the Two Sicilies, and the Count de Cheiseul-Gouffier a similar Tour through Greece. Their magnificent works have set an example, which we now see followed by M. Cassas + in his Picturesque Travels through Syria, Palestine, and the Lower Egypt, (of the first Number of which we have given an account in the preceding article,) and in this Journey through Istria and Dalmatia. According to the printed proposals, it will be comprehended in a folio volume, and the number of plates will be above sixty; of which twenty-four are given in these four Numbers, without any letter-press or explanation whatever. They represent views of the principal antient remains, and of See M. Rev, vol. lviii. and lix. This artist had been employed by the Count de Choiseul-Gouffier in quality of draftsman, during that nobleman's tour through Greece, remark |