LITERARY NOTICES. 



131 



is arrived at are erroneous; the premises 

 upon which it rests are unproved." In a 

 closing chapter on " Practical Results," the 

 object of the work is disclosed — it is to 

 harmonize religion and science by showing 

 that religion is, at any rate, as well off for 

 fundamental proofs as science. The con- 

 ceptions of causality, uniformity, and per- 

 manence of order in nature being held as 

 unproved, it is argued that supernatural 

 interferences are logically admissible, and 

 science and religion come into agreement 

 by opening the doors of ancient and modern 

 spiritualism. 



The Science of the Bible ; or. An Analysis 

 of the Hebrew Mythology, wherein it is 

 shown that the Holy Scriptures treat of 

 Natural Phenomena only. By Milton 

 "WooLLKY, M D. Chicago: Knight & 

 Leonard. Pp. 613. 8vo. Price, $4. 



This elaborate book is alleged by its 

 author to have had the following origin: 

 Impressed by the sentiment that human 

 nature in every age and country is much 

 the same, he inferred that cosmologies and 

 mythologies generally resemble each other. 

 But, if this be so, then the Hebrew mythol- 

 ogy is probably like the rest. So the author, 

 after he was turned sixty, studied the He- 

 brew language to find the key to the He- 

 brew mythology and the Hebrew Scriptures. 

 He claims to have succeeded, and this vol- 

 ume is the exposition of his view. 



His notion is, that the Bible from begin- 

 ning to end is but a mass of astronomic 

 myths. On the cover of his book is 

 stamped in gilt the old almanac diagram of 

 the twelve constellations of the zodiac. 

 This diagram reappears printed on a card 

 at the close of the book, with a movable 

 index to show the position of the sun 

 throughout the year. Now, the writer 

 claims that the whole Bible is to be inter- 

 preted as referring to the phenomena of 

 the year — the changes of seasons, and the 

 movements and places of the sun, moon, 

 planets, etc. Armed with this clew. Dr. 

 WooUey marches deliberately through the 

 Old Testament, taking its narratives, " Crea- 

 tion," "Adam and Eve," "Cain and Abel," 

 " Flood," " Tower of Babel," " Abram and 

 Sarai," all the way through to " Job " and 

 " Jon:\h," explaining, right and left, that 

 what is really meant by these stories is to 



symbolize natural phenomena, terrestrial and 

 celestial. For example: " 'Now when Moses 

 was grown ' (i. e., when Aquarius rises he- 

 liacally as before the sun) ' he spied an 

 Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, (winter smiting 

 summer), ' and he looked this way and that 

 way, and perceiving himself unseen ' (the 

 sun's rays hid him) ' he slew the Egyptian ' 

 (i. e., winter was followed by summer). ' But 

 when he went out the second day ' (i. e., 

 after he passed the summer solstice) ' he saw 

 two Hebrews ' (the two halves of summer) 

 ' striving together.' In attempting to pacify 

 them he was reminded by the first half of 

 summer, which witnessed his act, of his 

 murder the day before, became frightened, 

 and on learning that Pharaoh (the winter 

 sun) intended to slay him, fled into the land 

 of Midian (strife = the point between win- 

 ter and summer). Here ' he sat down by a 

 well.' Beer-sheba = the end of the seventh 

 month, when the ' former rain' begins." 



And so everything is construed. This 

 exegesis would get monotonous and tiresome, 

 but the author peppers his text so profusely 

 with sarcasms at the expense of those who 

 hold to the I'teral interpretation of Biblical 

 narratives that the tediousness of the expo- 

 sition is somewhat enUvened. The work 

 evinces much ingenuity, great learning, and 

 indomitable perseverance, though whether 

 these accomplishments have been wisely 

 expended in its preparation is perhaps a 

 question. 



Nests and Eggs of American Birds. By 

 Ernest Ingersoll. Published in Parts, 

 50 cents each. Part I. Pp. 24, with 

 Plates. Salem, Mass. : S. E. Casino. 



Hitherto there was no American work 

 on the nests and eggs of birds, and informa- 

 tion on that subject existed only in detached 

 form in a multitude of publications or in 

 the minds of ornithologists. Mr. Ingersoll 

 has done a valuable service to ornithology 

 by compiling the present work. When com- 

 pleted it will form a handsome volume, beau- 

 tifully illustrated with tinted lithographs. 



The Evidence of the Senses. Inaugural 

 Address before the Poughkeepsie Soci- 

 ety of Natural Sciences. By W. G. Ste- 

 venson, M. D., President. 



Dr. Stevenson has here brought together 

 many illustrations of errors and delusions 



