popular and often eloquent style in which Dr. Whewell treats of every subject brought under his consideration, the elegant scholarship, deep and varied reading, and extensive acquaintance with men and things which he everywhere displays, cannot fail to impress them favourably respecting his qualifications as an author on a matter of such wide and general scope as the natural indications of creative design, and of an intelligent "first cause of all created things," which the history and progress of science will be found to afford. And the sound principles of reasoning to which he conducts his reader in the analysis and examination of conflicting opinions, by which he is anxious to test the theories of others, and to which he throughout endeavours to conform his own determinations, appear to us so well calculated to assist in forming and maturing the youthful judgment, to aid in stimulating and developing the powers of thought, and give a healthy tone to the reflective habits, that we feel the greatest confidence in recommending this work to the attention of young men generally, as one well suited to their wants, and capable of yielding a large amount, not only of sound and salutary instruction, of pleasing and varied information, but also of pure and rational enjoyment.

The profuse variety of subjects, the extended range of thought, the splendid array of scientific research and philosophical speculation which these extracts embrace, and the interest which unavoidably attaches to many of the questions they discuss and aim to determine, contribute to render the work more attractive to a young and theorizing mind than some of the more formal treatises which have appeared on natural theology. It possesses also a great advantage over the manuals of preceding authorities, in having a more appreciable bearing on various controversial topics that are at the present time exciting a lively interest in the breasts of philosophers and men of science. As examples of this we may refer to the theory of analogies, or of a unity of plan in nature, as opposed to a diversity of purpose in creation, or, as it is sometimes termed, morphology, the question of the transmutation of species, and the hypothesis of progressive tendencies, all of which are fully elucidated and commented upon in the section on Physiology.

Another advantage is thus referred to by the author in his preface: "Perhaps also there may be some recommendation of these Indications of the Creator in their being the result of researches and reasonings undertaken with no purpose of bringing such indications into view, but with objects of quite another kind. For when an author writes with a theological conclusion set before him from the first, as that to which

he must conduct his argument, there may arise a suspicion of defect of candour and comprehensiveness in what he writes. It may be supposed that he will strain or evade any thing that points away from his predetermined end. But a narrative of the whole history of science, and an analysis of the processes by which sciences have been formed, are undertakings too large, and their course too rigidly determined by their plan, to allow them to be drawn aside by partial and irrelevant considerations. The passages now extracted as having a theological bearing will be seen, on reference, to flow naturally from the trains of thought with which they are combined in the original works."

This circumstance, however, gives rise to a peculiarity in the work which the lover of order and method will be perhaps inclined to regret, namely, that no attempt has been made to reduce these extracts into an harmonious and connected whole. They seem to stand coldly aloof from each other, like the members of an unsocial family. They certainly exhibit an unmistakeable family face; but it would require considerable acuteness of observation, or a pretty intimate acquaintanceship to be able to detect family affection. Such a want of any obvious coherence and mutual dependency in the several sections of a work we think, have a tendency to circumscribe its usefulness, and undoubtedly detracts from the pleasure, if not from the profit, experienced in its perusal.

In order, however, that our readers may be able to form some idea of the multiplicity of scientific subjects which the professor has laid under contribution, as well as of the manner in which he has arranged his materials, we shall endeavour to present a consecutive view of the contents of the volume. But, having already exceeded our accustomed limits, we must, for the present, confine ourselves to a brief notice of the commencement. The first section is on Astronomy; the subjects selected for illustration being the Copernican system, and the Nebular Hypothesis. Under the former head we have a very clever piece of writing on the character of Galileo and his judges, their age and country. The conclusion of this part contains such a just exposition of sentiments we have long entertained respecting the relations of science to Scripture, and to which we have already given expression in the pages of The Stdent, that we make no further apology for the following somewhat lengthy quotation, and with this we close the present notice: "But there remains something more to be attended to in the case of Galileo; for, though the See of Rome might exaggerate the claims of religious authority, there is a question, of no small real difficulty, which

the progress of science often brings into notice, as it did then. The revelation on which our religion is founded seems to declare, or to take for granted, opinions on points on which science also gives her decision: and we then come to this dilemma, -that doctrines, established by a scientific use of reason, may seem to contradict the declarations of revelation, according to our view of its meaning; and yet that we cannot, in consistency with our religious views, make reason a judge of the truth of revealed doctrines. In the case of astronomy, on which Galileo was called in question, the general sense of cultivated and sober-minded men has long ago drawn the distinction between religious and physical tenets which is necessary to solve this dilemma. On this point it is reasonably held, that the phrases which are employed in Scripture respecting astronomical facts are not to be made use of to guide our scientific opinions; they may be supposed to answer their end, if they fall in with common notions, and are thus effectually subservient to the moral and religious import of revelation.

But the establishment of this distinction was not accomplished without long and distressing controversies. Nor, if we wish to include all cases in which the same dilemma may again come into play, is it easy to lay down an adequate canon for the purpose. For we can hardly see beforehand what part of the past history of the universe may eventually be found to come within the domain of science, or what bearing the tenets which science establishes may have upon our view of the providential and revealed government of the world. But, without attempting here to generalize on this subject, there are two reflections which may be worth our notice. They are supported by what took place in reference to astronomy, on the occasion of which we are speaking, and may, at other periods, be applicable to other sciences.

"In the first place, the meaning which any generation puts upon the phrases of Scripture, depends, more than is at first sight supposed, upon the received philosophy of the time. Hence, while men imagine that they are contending for revelation, they are in fact contending for their own interpretation of revelation, unconsciously adapted to what they believe to be rationally probable; and the new interpretation, which the new philosophy requires, and which appears to the older school to be a fatal violence done to the authority of religion, is accepted by their successors without the dangerous results that were apprehended. When the language of Scripture, invested with its new meaning, has become familiar to men, it is found that the ideas which it calls up are quite as reconcileable as the former ones

were with the soundest religious views; and the world then looks back with surprise at the error of those who thought that the essence of revelation was involved in their own arbitrary version of some collateral circumstance. At the present day, we can hardly conceive how reasonable men should have imagined that religious reflections on the stability of the earth, and the beauty and use of the luminaries which revolve round it, would be interfered with by its being acknowledged that this rest and motion are apparent only.

"In the next place, we may observe, that those who thus adhere tenaciously to the traditionary or abitrary mode of understanding scriptural expressions of physical events are always strongly condemned by succeeding generations. They are looked upon with contempt by the world at large, who cannot enter into the obsolete difficulties with which they encumbered themselves, and with pity by the more considerate and serious, who know how much sagacity and right-mindedness are requisite for the conduct of philosophers and religious men on such occasions, but who know also how weak and vain is the attempt to get rid of the difficulty by merely denouncing the new tenets as inconsistent with religious belief, and by visiting the promulgators of them with severity such as the state of opinions and institutions may allow. The prosecutors of Galileo are still held up to the scorn and aversion of mankind; although, as we have seen, they did not act till it seemed that their position compelled them to do so, and then proceeded with all the gentleness and moderation which were compatible with judicial forms."

Report of Lectures on the Natural History of Plants yielding Food. By EDWIN LANKESTER, M.D., F.L.S., pp. 48 London: JOHN CHURCHILL, 46, Princes Street, Soho.

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"These Lectures," the author tells us, were delivered at the Manchester Royal Institution, and reported at the time in the Manchester Guardian. They were afterwards published in The Institute."

After a few preliminary observations upon the three kingdoms of nature, Dr. Lankester introduces the subject of the vegetable secretions, which he divides into two great classes,-the medicinal and the alimentary. Under the former he ranks the alkaloids; of which he notices theine, caffeine, and the obromine, as contained in tea, coffee, and chocolate, The identity of theine and caffeine is alluded to, and also their remarkable affinity of composition to taurine, an important nitrogenous principle of the bill, resulting from the metamorphosis of the tissues, the degree of which is chiefly regulated by the production of force

Hence Liebig supposes, that, when there is a deficiency of motion, these substances may supply the place of the taurine, and thus become beneficial to health. Dr. Playfair's theory is likewise noticed, which is founded upon the similarity in composition of caffeine and nervous matter, and which supposes that the one is converted into the other without undergoing any lengthened elaboration. In this manner he accounts for the agreeable stimulus of drinking tea and coffee when the nervous system is in an exhausted condition. This effect, however, to our minds is far more satisfactorily to be attributed to the volatile oil contained in these substances.

The alimentary secretions of plants are divided into the carbonaceous and nitrogenous. The former, according to the views emanating from Giessen, are consumed by the respiratory process, and the latter, consisting of modifications of a principle termed protein, which enters largely into the composition of the animal body, are solely employed for nutrition. Those plants are first noticed which yield starch in combination with exceedingly small quantities of protein, as the potato, arrow-root, sago, tapioca, &c.; and next, those in which the starch is united to a considerable amount of nitrogenous matter, such as wheat, barley, rye, maize, rice, &c.

In the third lecture, the group of plants characterized by possessing a large quantity of oil are referred to; and the cocoa-nut, Brazil-nut, and several others of the Palmaces are especially described. The author next proceeds to those members of the vegetable kingdom, chiefly belonging to the aurantiaceæ, rosacea, and oxalidaceae, which produce acid secretions.

The fourth and last lecture is occupied with sugar and the sugar-cane, glycerine, and the liquorice-plant, and the product of the decomposition of sugar, viz. alcohol, under its various forms of fermented and distilled liquors.

Such is a brief and very imperfect notice of the subjects discussed in these excellent lectures. On all the principal plants employed by mankind as sources of food they present much valuable information, in connexion with their history, botany, and chemistry, and in their relation to dietetics. The work is a most excellent one, and we give it a hearty recommendation.

A Hebrew Primer: intended as an Introduction to the Spelling and Reading of Hebrew with the Points. Compiled for the Use of Children and Beginners. By the Rev. A. M'CAUL, D.D. Rector of St. James', Duke's Place ; and Professor of Hebrew and Rabbinical

Literature in King's College, London. London: AYLOTT and JONES, Paternoster Row.

This Primer is admirable. It "has been compiled in order to furnish a cheap book for those who wish to teach their children Hebrew, and with the hope that many may be thus induced to learn themselves. It is simply an Introduction to the Spelling and Reading of Hebrew with the Points; but it is, at the same time, so constructed that those who will take the trouble to go through it regularly must acquire a knowledge of the principal parts of the Hebrew grammar. On this plan, a very young child may from this Primer proceed at once to the translation of the Hebrew Bible." It is assumed, and we think fairly, by Dr. M'Caul, that very young children can acquire Hebrew. Nor could a child enter on a more interesting branch of study. Without asserting that it was the one unvaried language of our first parents in the garden of Eden, or that in which Jehovah made known his will to our great progenitor, certain it is that it is the most ancient language in the world. There is no trace of any one that preceded it. Besides the means for acquiring it are now numerous and easy of access. Added to these means is the Primer of Dr. M'Caul. It is simple, clear, definite, and easily understood. He commences with the alphabet, giving the character, name, pronunciation, and power of each letter. He next proceeds to the formation of syllables, including the power and application of the points; to the letters quiescent, the compound syllables, the accents; then to lessons on verbs, lessons on nouns with their suffixes; then to the verbal suffixes; and closes with a few reading lessons illustrative of the preceding rules and examples. We know of nothing so comprehensive and yet so simple.

It is well adapted to beginners, of whatever age; and we would strongly recommend some of our young men to enter on the study of this most ancient language. Once acquired, they will find passages of inimitable beauty and sublimity in the Sacred Volume. The Bible, even as a composition, is unrivalled. In the writings of the great evangelical prophet, whose soul was wrapt in seraphic fire, there are descriptions which leave the most famous of the Greek and Roman poets at an infinite distance. No one unacquainted with the originals, can con ceive of the beauties which are spread over the volume of Revelation. If for nothing else, it is worth while to study Hebrew and Greek to discover these beanties. The effort will insure a rich reward.