The Chemistry of Common Life.

By JAMES F. W. JOHNSTON, M.A., F.R.S.S. L. & E., &c.

Author of "Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology," a "Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology," &c.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The common life of man is full of wonders, Chemical and Physiological. Most of us pass through this life without seeing or being sensible of them, though every day our existence and our comforts ought to recall them to our minds. One main cause of this is, that our schools tell us nothing about them—do not teach those parts of modern learning which would fit us for seeing them. What most concerns the things that daily occupy our attention and cares, are in early life almost sedulously kept from our knowledge. Those who would learn any thing regarding them, must subsequently teach themselves through the help of the press: hence the necessity for a Popular Chemical Literature.

It is with a view to meet this want of the Public, and at the same time to supply a Manual for the Schools, that the present work has been projected. It treats, in what appears to be their natural order, of THE AIR WE BREATHE and THE WATER WE DRINK, in their relations to human life and health—THE SOIL WE CULTIVATE AND THE PLANT WE REAR, as the sources from which the chief sustenance of all life is obtained—THE BREAD WE EAT AND THE BEEF WE COOK, as the representatives of the two grand divisions of human food—THE BEVERAGES WE INFUSE, from which so much of the comfort of modern life, both savage and civilized, is derived—THE SWEETS WE EXTRACT, the history of which presents so striking an illustration of the economical value of chemical science—THE LIQUORS WE FERMENT, so different from the sweets in their action on the system, and yet so closely connected with them in chemical history—THE NARCOTICS WE INDULGE IN, as presenting us with an aspect of the human constitution which, both chemically and physiologically, is more mysterious and wonderful than any other we are acquainted with—THE ODOURS WE ENJOY AND THE SMELLS WE DISLIKE; the former because of the beautiful illustration it presents of the recent progress of organic chemistry in its relations to comforts of common life, and the latter because of its intimate connection with our most important sanitary arrangements—WHAT WE BREATHE FOR and WHY WE DIGEST, as functions of the body at once the most important to life, and the most purely chemical in their nature—THE BODY WE CHERISH, as presenting many striking phenomena, and performing many interesting chemical functions not touched upon in the discussion of the preceding topics—and lastly, THE CIRCULATION OF MATTER, as exhibiting in one view the end, purpose, and method of all the changes in the natural body, in organic nature, and in the mineral kingdom, which are connected with and determine the existence of life.

It has been the object of the Author in this Work to exhibit the present condition of chemical knowledge and of matured scientific opinion upon the subjects to which it is devoted. The reader will not be surprised, therefore, should he find in it some things which differ from what is to be found in other popular works already in his hands or on the shelves of his library.

The Work is being published in 5 or 6 Numbers, price 25 cents each, in the following order, forming 1 vol. 12mo. of about 400 pages.

The AIR we Breathe and
The WATER we Drink.
The SOIL we Cultivate and
The PLANT we Rear.
The BREAD we Eat and
The BEEF we Cook.
The BEVERAGES we Infuse.
The SWEETS we Extract.
The LIQUORS we Ferment.
The NARCOTICS we Indulge in.
The ODOURS we Enjoy and
The SMELLS we Dislike.
What we BREATHE and BREATHE FOR, and
What, How, and Why we DIGEST
The BODY we Cherish, and
The CIRCULATION of MATTER, a Recapitulation.

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