m their scattered
position, are unlikely to have met the reader's attention, and which,
when combined with the facts I have detailed in subsequent pages, will
be admitted to deserve considerable attention. The following extract
from the article Chemistry, in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, is from
the pen of a gentleman equally qualified by his extensive reading, and
from his acquaintance with foreign nations, to form an opinion entitled
to respect. Differing from him widely as to the cause, I may be
permitted to cite him as high authority for the fact.

"In concluding this most circumscribed outline of the History of
Chemistry, we may perhaps be allowed to express a faint shade of regret,
which, nevertheless, has frequently passed over our minds within the
space of the last five or six years. Admiring, as we most sincerely do,
the electro-magnetic discoveries of Professor Oersted and his followers,
we still, as chemists, fear that our science has suffered some degree
of neglect in consequence of them. At least, we remark that, during this
period, good chemical analyses and researches have been rare in England;
and yet, it must be confessed, there is an ample field for chemical
discovery. How scanty is our knowledge of the suspected fluorine! Are
we sure that we understand the nature of nitrogen? And yet these are
amongst our elements. Much has been done by Wollaston, Berzelius,
Guy-Lussac, Thenard, Thomson, Prout, and others, with regard to the
doctrine of definite proportions; but there yet remains the Atomic
Theory. Is it a representation of the laws of nature, or is it
not?"---CHEMISTRY, ENCYC. METROP. p.596.

When the present volume was considerably advanced, the public were
informed that the late Sir Humphry Davy had commenced a work, having the
same title as the present, and that his sentiments were expressed in the
language of feeling and of eloquence. It is to be hoped that it may be
allowed by his friends to convey his opinions to posterity, and that the
writings of the philosopher may enable his contemporaries to forget some
of the deeds of the President of the Royal Society.

Whatever may be the fate of that highly interesting document, we may
infer his opinions upon this subject from a sentiment expressed in his
last work:--

"--But we may in vain search the aristocracy now for
philosophers."----"There are very few persons who pursue science with
true dignity; it is followed more as connected with obje