It would seem that subjects so simple and beautiful as these
could not be rendered difficult of comprehension, except by the most
awkward treatment; and yet we know of no work previous to that of Dr.
Youmans which does not utterly fail to give the general scientific
reader any idea whatever of their nature and theory. Here, however, they
are explained with clearness and elegance, and their bearing on the
undulatory theory of light is distinctly shown. As other instances of
most admirable exposition, we may call attention to the paragraphs on
crystallization, on the atomic theory, on isomerism and allotropism, on
diamagnetism, magnetic induction, and electric "currents," on the
sources of heat, on the chemical and thermal spectra, on the correlation
and equivalence of the forces, on the theory of ozone, on the
exceptional expansion of water and the supposed complexity of its atom,
on the structure of flame, on the constitution of salts, on the colloid
condition of matter, on types and compound radicles, on the dynamics of
vegetable growth and the production of animal power, and, above all, to
the passage which describes the phenomena of latent heat.
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