LITERARY NOTICES. 



561 



which the geologists are so much troubled | 

 about. The Greek, Roman, Egyptian, In- ' 

 dian, Arabian, and Aztec theogonies are 

 learnedly ransacked for the evidence they 

 afford to the truth of the new theory. 

 Thirty-nine pages are given to sifting the 

 testimony of Job, who seems to have had a 

 very luminous forecast of Mr. Donnelly's 

 great discovery, and wrote as if he were 

 happy in the idea that he might be per- 

 mitted to contribute something to it. Then 

 we have twenty-four pages of instructive 

 exegesis, entitled " Genesis read by the 

 Light of the Comet," and at the close of 

 this chapter the author invites attention to 

 the full accordance of the Biblical, Druid- 

 ical, Hindoo, and Scandinavian legends in 

 confirming " the great unwritten theory that 

 underlies all our religion." The fundamental 

 ideas which underlie the underlying theory 

 of our religion are thus enumerated: "1. 

 The golden age ; the paradise. 2. The 

 universal moral degeneracy of mankind; 

 the age of crime and violence. 3. God's 

 vengeance. 4. The serpent ; the fire from 

 heaven. 5. The cave-life and the darkness. 

 6. The cold ; the struggle to live. 1. The 

 'fall of man,' from virtue to vice; from 

 plenty to poverty ; from civilization to bar- 

 barism ; from the tertiary to the drift ; from 

 Eden to the gravel. 8. Reconstruction and 

 regeneration." 



All the religions of the world being thus 

 levied upon for proofs of the author's the- 

 ory, and our own being found so eminent- 

 ly tributary to it, we are entitled to say that 

 this is not only a peculiarly scientific book, 

 but also a peculiarly religious book. He 

 certainly makes a good deal of " matter," but 

 he lets us know that he is no " materialist." 

 Be assured, says he, "be assured of one 

 thing this world tends now to a deification 

 of matter." But we can not heartily com- 

 mend that combination of waggishness and 

 piety which is but too obvious in a passage 

 like this from his farewell chapter : 



Do not count too much, Dives, on your lands 

 and houses and parchments; your guns and 

 cannon and laws; your insurance companies 

 and your governments. There may be even 

 now one coming from beyond Arctums or Alde- 

 baran, or Coma Berenices, with glowing coun- 

 tenance and horrid hair and millions of tons of 

 debris, to overwhelm you and your possessions, 

 and your corporations and all the ant-like de- 

 vices of man, in one common ruin. 

 vol. xxii. 36 



Again : 



Build a little broader, Dives. Establish spir- 

 itual relations. Matter is not everything. You 

 do not deal in certainties. You are but a vital- 

 ized speck, rilled with a fraction of God's dele- 

 gated intelligence, crawling over an egg-shell 

 filled with fire, whirling madly through infinite 

 space, a target for the bombs of the universe. 



It is to be hoped that Dives will heed 

 these appalling admonitions. 



On the whole, " Ragnarck " is too ab- 

 surd to do much mischief, and contains 

 much that is readable, and that may in a 

 certain way prove instructive ; that is, it 

 may serve to kindle an interest in some 

 minds upon subjects to which they would 

 not be attracted by ordinary didactic trea- 

 tises. 



Zoological Sketches. A Contribution to 

 the Out-door Study of Natural History. 

 By Felix L. Oswald, author of " Sum- 

 merland Sketches of Mexico and Central 

 America." Philadelphia : J. B. Lippin- 

 cott & Co. Pp. 266, with 36 Illustra- 

 tions. Price, $2. 



It is unnecessary to commend to the 

 readers of " The Popular Science Monthly " 

 the writings of Dr. Oswald, but we must 

 keep them informed of what he is doing. 

 His last volume of " Zoological Sketches " 

 is undoubtedly the most entertaining of his 

 publications. We know of no delineator of 

 animal traits who has so entered into the 

 spirit of that lowlier order of beings that 

 have hitherto been so contemned, misunder- 

 stood, and outraged. For perhaps in noth- 

 ing has the brutality of man been so ex- 

 emplified as in his treatment of what he 

 calls the " brutes." No doubt, a kinder 

 feeling is beginning to grow up as his kin- 

 ship with those below him is better under- 

 stood ; and as men are beginning through 

 the rise of an intelligent sympathy to op- 

 press and abuse each other less, their hum- 

 ble and more defenseless relatives are cer- 

 tain to share some of the results of this 

 human amelioration. Such works as this 

 of Dr. Oswald will do much to strengthen 

 these kindlier sentiments toward the animal 

 creation. There is an exquisite good hu- 

 mor, a lively wit, and a joyous exuberance 

 of feeling in Dr. Oswald's descriptions of 

 the life of our inferior relatives in which 

 nature has not yet been perverted. 



The learning of this author in the field 



