Notices respecting New Books. 453 



whom half a century back they were utterly inaccessible, it ap- 

 pears a strange anomaly that there should be less of serious and 

 deep thought than in the days when little adventitious aid to study 

 of any kind could be obtained ; yet those who have observed most 

 closely, and reflected most deeply, agree in the opinion that such is 

 the case, and that the present age, with all its " appliances and 

 means " of knowledge, may be justly termed superficial. One ob- 

 vious cause of such a state of things, and the only one which it is 

 needful to our present purpose to notice, arises from the immense 

 increase of our population — all struggling for maintenance, or for 

 the good things of this world in some shape — all ashamed not to 

 possess some slight acquaintance with the literature of the day, yet 

 all too much engrossed by the immediate pressure of their daily con- 

 cerns to give more than a passing thought to other matters. Among 

 the many whose cases come under the above description, there must 

 however be a large number who would gladly obtain more solid in- 

 formation on subjects, both of science and general knowledge, than 

 has hitherto been within their grasp ; but how can the evening of a 

 day of toil, or a proper use of the needful and holy rest of Sunday, 

 afford leisure for the study of voluminous writings, even were the 

 demand on their pockets within the means of those who would learn 

 if they could ? The strong conviction of the necessity of furnish- 

 ing persons so situated with the mental nourishment they require in 

 a condensed form, has induced a few friends to unite "for the pur- 

 pose of supplying the deficiency," which, as their prospectus states, 

 " could hardly be supplied in the common course of trade ;" and the 

 three little works, whose names stand at the head of this article, have 

 been already published by the Society. We willingly co-operate in 

 a design so well intentioned, and so likely, we think, to be useful to 

 the world, by introducing them to the notice of our readers, to whom, 

 however, it is very probable that the 2nd and 3rd numbers may be 

 already known, being the substance of two lectures delivered, one in 

 1841, the other in the spring of this year, at the Royal Institution, 

 by the Rev. John Barlow. 



In the first treatise, " Philosophical Theories and Philosophical 

 Experience," the ' Pariah ' (as the author chooses to style himself) 

 discourses on those most important of all subjects, the present and 

 future destiny of man ; and shows by a train of lucid reasoning that 

 all true religion and all real philosophy must accord, since eternal 

 truth is One, and admits of no contradictions ; and that the word of 

 God and reason unite in pointing out to man wherein his real good 

 consists. " The questions," says the ' Pariah,' " which have agitated 

 mankind in all ages, and whose solution forms the basis of all sy- 

 stems of religion and philosophy, .... may be resolved into three. 

 " 1. What is the nature of the power exterior to ourselves ? 

 " 2. What is the nature of the power within ourselves ? 

 "3. What, with reference to these two, is the nature of the good 

 which man ought to propose to himself as his aim and object?" 

 (Phil. Theo. and Phil. Ex. pp. 11, 12.) 



In reply to the first query the author proves, that " by a legitimate 



