LITERARY XOTICES. 



373 



the intellectual character of the man is to 

 be properly deduced. But our interest in 

 him is greatly heightened by the glimpses 

 of a strong personality, which these vol- 

 umes reveal in his free and extensive inter- 

 course with the intellectual celebrities of 

 the time. We have no space for illustra- 

 tions of the quality of these most readable 

 books, but the following reference to Dr. 

 Lardner will give a sample of their general 

 spiciness : 



" Mr. Herschel's discourse " (on natural philoso- 

 phy) "was published In Lardner' 3 'Cabinet Cyclo- 

 paedia,' and he afterward contributed to the same se- 

 ries an elementary ' Treatise on Astronomy.' Prof. 

 Whewell was not quite satisfied with the channel 

 which his eminent friend thus accepted for his 

 writings. Dr. Lardner was a man of scientific at- 

 tainments, and of considerable ability for popular 

 exposition ; his importunity in urging the fulfillment 

 of the promises which he obtained of cooperation 

 in his ' Cyclopaedia,' and his name Dionysius, which 

 it was conjectured he had himself modified from 

 the more familiar Denis, naturally led to the appel- 

 lation tyrant, which was given to him in a good- 

 tempered manner by Southey and other literary 

 men of the period. He made various attempts to 

 induce Prof. Whewell to join his staff, and in par- 

 ticular during the present year wished to engage 

 him to write on political economy ; but the appli- 

 cations were in vain. Prof. Whewell, perhaps, men- 

 tioned the matter to Mr. Jones, as wo may conject- 

 ture from a sentence in a letter from him : ' I should 

 like to write a treatise for the tyrant if he would 

 wait two or three years, but he shall not have the 

 premices of my speculations.' " 



The Christ of Paul ; ok, the Enigmas of 

 Christianity. By C. Reber. New York : 

 Somerby. Price, $2.00. 



The principal topics considered in this 

 volume are, the influence of the Essenes 

 and Therapeutaj on the development of the 

 Christian' system ; the origin of the four 

 Gospels ; the influence of Irenasus on Chris- 

 tian beliefs ; the dogma of the Trinity ; the 

 origin of the Episcopate and of the Papacy ; 

 the miracles attributed to Christ, the Apos- 

 tles, and their successors. 



Connection of Meteorology with Health. 

 By William Blasius. 



In this paper the author strives to as- 

 sign a philosophical reason for " the well- 

 known fact " that, during all ages, cities, 

 where topographical impediments do not in- 

 terfere, extend, as a general rule, from east 

 to west, and that the wealthiest people are 

 always in the advance. 



Lessons from Nature, as manifested in 

 Mind and Matter. By St. George 

 Mivart, Ph. D., F. R. S. Pp. 462. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Price, 



The title of this book is somewhat mis- 

 leading. We should expect to find in its 

 pages a cool, didactic statement of the re- 

 sult of observations and studies in natural 

 history, perhaps, or in some of the familiar 

 aspects of Nature. But, instead of simple 

 lessons or inculcations from natural things, 

 presented in a quiet and instructive form, 

 we have a book full of rancorous contro- 

 versy and bitter polemics. Mr. Mivart has 

 achieved some reputation as an anatomist 

 and biologist, and is by no means destitute 

 of expository power, but the discussions in 

 this volume show that he is more a theolo- 

 gian than a scientist, more a bigot than a 

 philosopher, and more fond of fighting than 

 teaching. He makes a series of vindictive 

 assaults upon men with whom he does not 

 agree, and then names the result " Lessons 

 from Nature." A writer in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Science administers to Mr. Mivart 

 a well-merited castigation for his unscrupu- 

 lous course in dealing with contemporary 

 thinkers, and we publish a portion of the 

 article under the title of " Bigotry and Sci- 

 entific Controversy." The writer treats 

 him unsparingly, but we think justly, and 

 condemns in terms of merited severity the 

 practice, not yet extinct, of appealing to 

 the odium theoloyicum, which " in its most 

 malignant form pervades the entire book." 



" Lessons from Nature " is a discussion 

 of the tendencies of modern theories which 

 are associated with the names of Darwin, 

 Spencer, Mill, Helmholtz, Huxley, Lewes, 

 and others, which are variously character- 

 ized by this author as immoral, irreligious, 

 materialistic, and atheistic. The course of 

 thought is more metaphysical than physi- 

 cal, and the volume derives but little value 

 from the scientific acquirements of the 

 writer. Indeed, he had already told us in 

 his " Genesis of Species " all that he has to 

 say in opposition to the views of Darwin, 

 and here it is only restated with the garnish 

 of abuse and invective. But, although him- 

 self committed in the " Genesis of Species " 

 to the doctrine of Evolution, and saying, as 

 he does at page 16, "the prevalence of this 

 theory need alarm no one, for it is, without 



