The sole purpose of this volume is to provide an elementary course of chemistry suited to the wants of students and teachers in high schools and academies. The course seeks to present the most valuable topics for a student whose study ends when he leaves the preparatory school, while at the same time providing appropriate preparation for higher courses for students who may pursue them. This textbook presents the following purposes: (1) To seize upon the fundamental facts and principles of the science, and submit them to a simple and concise, but at the same time a clear and accurate, treatment; (2) To present the subjects which will be of greatest value to a student whose course of study must end when he leases the preparatory school, and which are, at the same time, most desirable, as a preparation for higher courses, to those who may in future pursue them; (3) To thoroughly systematize the whole, securing a logical order of subjects and an arrangement of topics adapted to encourage the best methods of study and to facilitate the best methods of teaching; (4) To encourage a complete mastery of what is undertaken, by concentrating study upon a brief course, and providing for thorough reviews at short intervals by means of summaries of principles and exercises with problems at the ends of sections or chapters; (5) To present the science in the light of modern theories, sparing no pains to make the work represent the "present state" of chemistry fairly and fully, so far as its elementary character will permit; and (6) To make the experimental method of reaching facts prominent and practicable, not by requiring the student to read the descriptions of large numbers of experiments which they can not make and may never see, but rather by inviting his attention to a few which are within reach, or which may be clearly understood by means of cuts, and then providing an additional number which are easily and cheaply made, and "which are to be studied only when they are seen." The author has provided for the teacher's use, a selection of additional experiments, easy, cheap, and appropriate for illustration.