CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 143 



being. In short, if it should be found/' he adds, " that the corpo- 

 real organs are merely instruments that assist in the developement 

 of some higher inscrutable power, we may surely infer, with a de- 

 gree of certainty equal to that which attends any conclusions in 

 physical science, that this superior power — which we designate the 

 soul — is distinct from material organization, and that its existence 

 does not depend on those subservient agents which manifest its pre- 

 sence." His arguments are drawn irom a well-arranged division of 

 the subject into three parts, derived, first, from the indestructibility 

 of matter ; second, the properties of matter ; and lastly, the pheno- 

 mena of life. We have merely space to give an example from each 

 of these divisions, which are again sub-divided into a variety of sec- 

 tions, each connected with the most interesting phenomena in 

 distinct branches of science. The solution of a lump of sugar 

 might be adduced as a familiar illustration of the first section ; we, 

 however, prefer another, less familiar, but on that account, perhaps, 

 more striking, of the total disappearance and apparent annihilation 

 of a solid body by solution. If a piece of silver be immersed in 

 diluted nitric acid, the affinity of the acid to the metal will occasion 

 them to unite ; a brisk action will ensue, and in a short time the 

 silver will be entirely dissolved, and absolutely invisible. The 

 liquid will remain limpid as before, and will present no difference 

 in its appearance to indicate a change. What, then, has become of 

 the solid piece of silver that was placed in the liquid ? Its hardness, 

 its lustre, its tenacity, its great specific gravity, all the characteristics 

 that distinguish it as a metal, are gone ; its very form has vanished, 

 and the hard, splendid, ponderous, and opaque metal that, but a few 

 minutes since, was immersed in the mixture, is, to all visible evi- 

 dence, gone for ever. But this is a fallacy, which chemistry enables 

 us to detect ; for if we drop some pieces of coj)per into the limpid 

 fluid, to which metal the acid has a stronger affinity than to the 

 silver, the latter will be immediately disengaged, or fall to the bot- 

 tom in small brilliant metallic crystals. And the quantity thus 

 deposited will be found to correspond exactly with the weight of 

 the metal dissolved ; and if the minute particles be melted, and 

 cast into the same shape that the piece of silver presented before 

 solution, it will be reproduced not only the same in substance, but 

 in its pristine form, and actual identity. Similar instances are 

 given under the effects of evaporation, rarefaction, decomposition, 

 and even combustion ; all tending to shew that the elements of 

 matter are neither changed nor diminished, that no particle of mat- 

 ter acted on suffers annihilation, and that by no known process 

 whatever can it be destroyed : which accumulated evidence corro- 

 borates the analogy, and the proof of the indestructibility of matter 

 becomes almost as well established as any truth can be of which we 

 have not absolute demonstration. 



Our next illustration will be from the second division of the 

 work, where proofs are collected from the properties of matter. The 

 instance selected shall be that from light. If a ray of sun-light be 



