LITERARY NOTICES. 



539 



of the Bible existing only in manuscript, 

 and written in dead Hebrew and Greek ? " 



From Prof. Turner's chapter on " Miracle 

 and Prayer" we quote the following pas- 

 sao'es, which illustrate his view of that sub- 

 ject: 



We have a cow that is, in her way, a great 

 philosopher, and somewhat of a diviae. She 

 has attained such adroitness that she can han- 

 dle all the hasps and latches, aud open all the 

 gates and barn-doors. She is clearly of the 

 opinion that whatever lies beyond her capacity 

 in that line must be miraculous; aud when we 

 take a key out of our pocket, and put it in a 

 padlock, and open a door that she has triea in 

 vaiu to open, she cocks her ears forward, opens 

 her eyes, and says as plaiuly as she cau : " Well, 

 now, that is clearly miraculous; a manifest inter- 

 ference with the laws of Nature." And this is 

 very good cow-philosophy and cow-theology; but 

 will it do foi-humau beings ? . . . 



No one of the gospel narrators ever inti- 

 mates that Jesus's works were either a violation 

 or a suspension of, or even an interference with, 

 any law of Nature. All this is our own ''cow- 

 philosophy" and "cow-divinity." It neither 

 came from Christ nor his apostles. They spoke 

 of them as "signs'''' and '^wonders,''' '■^mighty 

 works " / as acts that were " significant," 

 " strange aud unusual," and implying '• power." 

 In the only three ultimate forms of being or ex- 

 istence known to us, matter, force, aud spirit, 

 or voluntary being of some sort, the last is the 

 only one from which any new force or cause can 

 even seem to originate. 



Prof. Turner writes with great vigor and 

 force, though we think with some verbal re- 

 dundancy, and is mainly intent upon making 

 himself understood. He is inclined to con- 

 sider that there is a good deal of credulity 

 on the part of scientific men, aud he is not 

 very mealy-mouthed in his statement of this 

 opinion. The following passage is evidently 

 for the benefit of Prof. Tyndall: 



Contrast, now, the ontology, or scheme of 

 being and destiny, implied in all Christ's teach- 

 ings and works, with that implied in the dog- 

 matism of those scientists who find " all potency 

 in matter," boginnins with theiruniverse of star- 

 dust aud incandescent gas.without known cause, 

 solidifying itself into the solid worldfs. generat- 

 ing protoplasms, bioplasms, and cells, and even 

 correlated sexes, out of dead matter, with uo 

 supervising intelligence : the molten mass of 

 earth cooling down so slowly as to admit of ages 

 of tropical life at the poles; and anon for a^-es 

 taken with such a congestive chill that eternal 

 ice and glaciers shrouded it quite down to the 

 tropics; then a fever set in again, and it warmed 

 up to ils present condition, full of literal hell- 

 fire within, eternally belchine forth in all its vol- 

 canoes—all living things made out of the same 

 original protoplasms, more handy to the mod- 



em scientist than was the dust of the earth, or 

 Adam's extra rib, to the old Jews, but made 

 without any maker. All things at last, in pro- 

 phetic vision, to turn to ice at;ain ; all being, 

 even the sun himself, is to freeze to death; a 

 universe of being born without God, boru at 

 first of hell-fire, nursed on protoplasm without 

 any nurse, and consigned at last to eternal death 

 by frost, with still no God to breathe the breath 

 of life into it forever more ; or it may take a no- 

 lion to explode again into ^as and star-dust, to 

 run its perpetual rounds, with alternate creations 

 by hell-fire and damnations by irost, through all 

 eternity to cornel What an origin 1 What a 

 destiny 1 What logic ! What shocliiug assump- 

 tion at every step ! aud what infinite dogmatism 

 in every conclusion 1 What aimless and sense- 

 less credulity! Jonah and his whale, Joshua 

 and his sun, Noah aud his ark, Moses with all 

 his snakes, and frogs, and lice, and murrains, 

 and deaths, are totally eclipsed by these modern 

 dealers in scientific miracles. 



The American Quarterly Microscopical 

 Journal. Edited by Romyn Hitchcock, 

 Devoted to the Interests of Microscopi- 

 cal Study in all Branches of Science; 

 with which is also published the Trans- 

 actions of the New York Microscopical 

 Society. Vol. I., No. 1. Published by 

 Hitchcock & Wall, 150 Nassau Street, 

 New York. Piice -$3 a year, or 75 cents 

 per copy. 



This is a compact, neatly printed, and 

 beautifully illustrated journal of 96 pages, 

 intended as an aid to professional and ama- 

 teur microscopists in the promotion and 

 diffusion of the results of research. Of the 

 microscope and the functions of a micro- 

 scopical journal the editor says : 



To the student of natural science the micro- 

 scope is, and always will be, a mere tool. Mi- 

 croscopy, as a special science, has very little 

 claim for existence. In so far as a certain famil- 

 iarity with the instrument and training in the 

 proper management of the light and accessories 

 are necessary to enable one to use the instru- 

 ment, it may be called a science. We would de- 

 tract nothing from the merits of those who are 

 expert in securing the most perfect performance 

 of an objective. Still, as a matter cf fact, aud 

 plain fiicts should not give offense to any one, 

 we must admit that the great value of the micro- 

 scope as a means of investigation lies in [the 

 aid it gives to almost every branch of science. 

 This leads us to a statement of what, in our 

 opinion, a microscopical journal should he. 

 Eecognizing the value of microscopical study 

 in the various branches of natural science, such 

 a journal should aim to publish the results of re- 

 search carried on witi! the microscope in every 

 department. 



Accordingly, besides articles relating to 

 the structure and improvement of the mi- 



