OR,

REPORTER OF CHEMICAL DISCOVERIES AND
IMPROVEMENTS,

AND

PROTECTOR OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHEMIST
AND CHEMICAL MANUFACTURER.

EDITED BY

CHARLES AND JOHN WATT.

VOL. IV.

VOL. I. NEW SERIES.

LONDON:

ALEXANDER WATT, 310, STRAND.

1843.

PEIRCE, PRINTER. 310, STRAND.

INTRODUCTION.

It is now our pleasing task to address our readers on the completion of the FOURTH VOLUME of THE CHEMIST, and to thank them for the very substantial support with which they have rewarded the very great labor we have bestowed on this work.

The increase of size and price which, at the commencement of the present year, we found it necessary to make, was a hazardous experiment; but it has succeeded even beyond our hope, and the sale of the work has continued to increase from month to month, to such an extent as to render its continuance a matter of absolute certainty. We look forward, therefore, with pleasure, to making many more annual addresses to those for whose instruction we cheerfully labor, and whose support enables to continue, and stimulates us to extend, our exertions.

At the period when our work was started, there was no journal devoted to the same subjects. That one was much wanted, is proved by the fact that upwards of 2,000 copies of the First Number were sold. Since then, and especially within the last few months, the increase has been very considerable, with every prospect of even greater progress being made.

Within the last twelve months, however, our success has led to the establishment of two other journals: one of which existed for a few weeks, and then became extinct; the second, started with the professed object of "upsetting THE CHEMIST," under the auspices of parties who are personally inimical to us, has failed in attaining the end for which it was established. We have stood uninjured by, and will ever deride the efforts of, the malignant endeavors of the enemies our success has arrayed against us, fully expecting that they will fail as signally in their struggle to maintain their own position as they have done in their attempts to eject us from ours.

The care bestowed on the editing of THE CHEMIST-the vast amount and great variety of its contents-the high character of the sources from which its matter is derived, and the undaunted vigor with which its columns have been made the medium of the exposure of abuses-all these qualifications combine to render this journal deserving of the appellation which it has gained-that of "the leading chemical periodical" in the United Kingdom.