A defence of Turner’s method seems at first sight to be quite unnecessary, for his test has been used over and over again, for upwards of fifty years, and, as far as I am aware, its usefulness has never been questioned till quite lately. Great was my surprise a few days ago to read a paragraph “On the uselessness of Turner’s flux as applied to the detection of boracic acid.” Professor Chapman speaking of Turner’s method, says:— “This test is much quoted in blowpipe books, and works on chemical analysis generally; but it is altogether superfluous. With borate of soda it fails entirely, or yields very unsatisfactory results ; and although it answers for most other borates, and for borosilicates, it is uselessly applied to them, because these bodies colour the flame equally well per se.” He quotes from Buzengeiger (Annales des Mines, 1829, tome v.p. 36), in support of these statements.