their speculations as to the constituent properties of matter
coincide in a wonderful degree with those which now prevail among modern
philosophers. It is not easy to define what chemistry is in a few words,
but it may be described as the science which has for its object the
investigation of all elementary bodies which exist in the universe, with
the view of determining their composition and properties. It also seeks
to detect the laws which regulate their mutual relations, and the
proportions in which these elements will combine together to form the
compounds which constitute the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms,
as well as the properties of these various compounds. The ancients
admitted only four elements--earth, air, fire, and water. Chemists now
far exceed this number, and seek to show what these elements are
composed of by analysing them into the various gases, solids, and
liquids.

Astronomy is the most ancient of all the sciences. The Chaldeans, the
Egyptians, the Chinese, the Hindoos, Gauls, and Peruvians, each regarded
themselves as the inventors of astronomy, an honour which Josephus
deprives them of by ascribing it to the antediluvian patriarchs. From
the few facts to be gleaned out of the vague accounts by ancient authors
regarding the Chaldeans, it may be inferred that their boasted knowledge
of this science was confined to observations of the simplest kind,
unassisted by any instruments whatever. The Egyptians, again, though
anciently considered the rivals of the Chaldeans in the cultivation of
this science, have yet left behind them still fewer records of their
labours, though it is so far certain that their astronomical knowledge
was even greater than that of the Chaldeans. The Phoenicians seem to
have excelled in the art of navigation, and would no doubt direct their
course among the islands of the Mediterranean by the stars; but if they
had any further speculative notions of astronomy, they were probably
derived from the Chaldeans or Egyptians. In China, astronomy has been
known from the remotest ages, and has always been considered as a
science necessary and indispensable to the civil government of the
Celestial Empire. On considering the accounts of Chinese astronomy, we
find it consisted only in the practice of certain observations, which
led to nothing more than the knowledge of a few isolated facts, and they
are indebted to foreigners for any further improvements they have since
adopted.