EXAMPLE.
(Example 2nd, p. 39, Requisite Tables.)
| Reserved log. from Tables 9 and 10 | 9.995307 | |
| Log. sin 62° 45′ 56″ =12sum app. dis. and diff. app. alts. | 9.948971 | |
| Log. sin 40° 43′ 31″ =12diff. ditto ditto | 9.814536 | |
| Log. 2 | 0.301030 | |
| Nat. num. corres. | 1.147741 | 0.059844 |
| Nat. vers. 22° 48′ 16″ = diff. true alts. | 0.078167 | |
| Nat. vers. 103° 3′ 23″ = true distance | 1.225908 | |
De l’Influence des Agens Physiques sur la Vie. Par W. F. Edwards, D.M., Membre associé de l’Académie royale de Médicine de Paris, Membre de la Société Philomatique, de la Société de Médicine de Dublin, &c. [◊]
THE researches of science among the phenomena of the physical world have long obtained a high degree of estimation and interest in general society; but it is of late years only that their application to living functions has attracted much of the attention of the literary world.
The laws which govern the action of animal organs (the proper department of Physiology) have usually been investigated by the medical profession, to which they especially [p138] refer. Now we find the public take some pains, and with reason, to inform themselves upon subjects connected with physiological knowledge. A well-educated person, disposed to philosophical inquiries, is not merely contented with the consciousness of living, and the common information he derives of its means by experience, but he seeks also to comprehend the relations subsisting between his own organisation and the matters with which he is surrounded, and which at once furnish him with nutrition, life, and support, and assail him with disease and annihilation. His own instincts and observation, joined to the more learned experience of his medical advisers, help him through the precarious stages of life, and these may perhaps be sufficient for all its purposes; and under this impression many will seek to know no more of the secrets of nature.
But we live in an inquiring and scrutinising age, when the demand for scientific principles is very generally urgent. All, therefore, relating to organisation seems of equal interest with that appertaining to what is termed the physical creation or inert matter.
Under this impression we have perused the book before us with great satisfaction, and propose to present our readers with an analysis of the valuable materials which it contains. We have some knowledge of Dr. Edwards, a countryman domiciliated in France, and long resident in Paris. We have confidence in his reports, and highly estimate his philosophical skill, extensive acquirements, and accuracy of observation, ranking him among the first physiologists of the age.
The work, now under consideration, contains an elaborate account of a long series of experiments, instituted for the purpose of ascertaining the influence of the physical agents upon animal life. These agents comprehend the atmospheric air, water, and temperature; the two first constituting the media in which all animals exist, and the last influencing in common the inhabitants of both media. It is true, this is a subject by no means new, for it has engaged the attention of experimenters from the earliest days of science. But Dr. Edwards has diligently and patiently sought to investigate the subject himself, to correct previous errors, and to embody the facts which he has accumulated into a more complete and regular system than heretofore adopted. In this attempt he has been eminently successful, and has effected more perhaps than all who preceded him, availing himself, nevertheless, of the experience of former inquiries.
The extent of his book, and the number of the experiments [p139] are indeed somewhat appalling, but his clear and distinct method of arrangement greatly facilitates the reader’s endeavours to master the extensive subjects of his pages. As a book of reference it should find a place in the library of every scientific society, and no individual devoted to philosophy should omit the possession of it.