144 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, 



admitted through a small hole in the shutter of a darkened room, 

 and be permitted to fall upon a piece of black cloth which reflects 

 none of the light, the room will appear to be in darkness, notwith- 

 standing the ray of light from the sun passes directly through it. 

 If, however, an orange, or other bright object, be placed in the ray, 

 the reflection of the light from its surface will not only render the 

 object distinctly visible, but will diffuse light to all parts of the 

 room. Now, in this case, no more light actually enters the room, 

 when the reflecting substance is placed in the ray ; but, owing to 

 the peculiar conformation of the surface of that body, it is enabled 

 to decompose the light, and to absorb all the coloured rays but the 

 one which gives it its peculiar colour; and that ray it reflects with in- 

 conceivable velocity in every direction. If the reflecting substance 

 be removed or destroyed, the room will again become dark ; for 

 there will be no longer any object to reflect its rays. But are we, 

 therefore, to suppose, that, with the destruction of that substance, 

 the light it emitted is also destroyed.^ Far from it : the reflecting 

 substance was only the medium through which the presence of light 

 was manifested to the senses : and when that body is removed or 

 destroyed, the light streams onwards — unseen, indeed, but still ex- 

 isting with the same energy as when rendered sensible to the visual 

 organs by the agency of a body competent to reflect it. Thus, does 

 this, with other phenomena of light, bear a strong analogy to the 

 presumed independence of the soul, and its continued existence after 

 the dissolution of the body. 



The last section is dedicated to instances proving that the living 

 principle in creation, whether vegetable or animal, is distinct from 

 the organized structures in which it is developed ; and that it is not 

 inherent in any portion of the matter which composes these organi- 

 zations. One of the most obvious instances in point, and to which 

 Mr. Bakewell briefly alludes, is the striking emblematical analogy 

 which the insect transformations bear to another state of existence ; 

 wherein, after casting off" the material form that binds man to earth, 

 the grub may enter into a new life with enlarged and additional 

 mental capacities. This hint might, indeed, be carried infinitely 

 further, and afford wide scope, for the transformations and enlarge- 

 ments awaiting our mental and rational powers, when renewed and 

 regenerated, under the all-absorbing spirit of divine grace, deprived 

 of the earthy, and partaking of the heavenly alone. In fact, 

 as we passed frorti page to page of this interesting work, we saw, as 

 it were, many visionary and mysterious openings into the things 

 which shall be hereafter ; all in accordance with, and all bearing 

 direct witness to, the truths of revelation. As we paused over 

 several of the instances recorded, flashes of light seemed to dart 

 athwart our imagination, and gleam upon shadowy forms of hea- 

 venly imagery, in which the scheme of man's redemption, the atone- 

 ment, and all the sublime machinery of evangelical Christianity 

 were so directly and closely interwoven, that we closed the book_, 

 pitying the fool who hath said " there is no God," and mourmng 



