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PREFATORY ADDRESS.

The Author flatters himself, that his labours will be

found to open a field of experiment, of chemical rea- 2

soning, and of the pra@tically useful, applicable to Acri-

culture, of which that science has hitherto been thought

incapable.

In the prosecution of his researches to so desirable an end, he acknowledges the assistance he has derived from the labours and valuable discoveries of a PRIESTLEY anda CavenpisH, under the heads of Air, or Gasses, Composi- tion, and Decomposition of Water; so true is the obser-

vation, that there is no art or discovery that is not the

parent or sister of some other.

Gratitude requires that he should likewise acknow- ledge‘the obligations he is under to his frien d Mr. Van- couver, for the time he has kindly dedicated, and the relief he has afforded the Author in the fati icue of this publication---a work wherein accuracy of chemical ex- pression---a v variety of important matter---attended with the dif heulty of distina arrangement, never completely to be attained in any work, where the subjeé&ts to be

treated

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