42 BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 



Literatures, mythologies, traditions, all attest the union of matter 

 and spirit ; and instinct, turning a deaf ear to the propoundings of 

 the spiritualist and the dogmas of the materialist, declares for the two 

 elements and holds ti em essential to each other. Science completes 

 this work, and mar'^e^ the two worlds together by the wedding-ring 

 of universal law, whicL it is the task of science to comprehend and 

 apply in accordance with the strictest generalities. Let it not be 

 thought, however, that this work is yet complete, — for in the infancy 

 of science we can only expect approximations ; and such of these as 

 physics are capable of affording, the labour of Oersted has thrown to- 

 gether in one of the most enchanting volumes ever published, which 

 has attained a cosmopolitan celebrity, under the title of the Soul in 

 Nature.* 



In this work the great Danish philosopher employs the reasoning which 

 scientific facts supply in the defence of that part of the popular faith 

 which asserts the universal existence of spirit, or rather the universal 

 prevalence of thought in nature. As far as it is possible to reduce his 

 views to the compass of a short essay, let us endeavour to do so, and 

 with a hope that such a reduction of ample particulars into brief 

 generalities will not in any way mar the profound reasonings of so 

 genuine a philosopher. 



First then, how do we gain a knowledge of the outer world ? Not 

 surely by the senses only ; for in our quick views of things we ap- 

 prehend their meaning readily by merely viewing portions of them, 

 inferring the remainder of the conditions which are requisite to a com- 

 plete appreciation of the object. "We have a perfect idea of a tree, 

 with branches, leaves, bark, buds, and fruit, from a mere glimpse of a 

 portion of the trunk through a window or a crevice ; and we recog- 

 nise a book as a book by merely laying our hands on a portion of it in 

 the dark. What then ? why ; — inasmuch as we do not grasp the 

 things themselves, but infer their existence by mere glimpses of them, 

 so we are indebted for our knowledge of the world to the impressions 

 which things are capable of producing upon us, such impressions 

 being converted into thoughts by union with the collective experience 

 with which former impressions have furnished us. Now to make an 

 impression on a being capable of thought, requires in the object an 



* The Soul in Nature. By Hans Christian Oersted. Edited by Leonora 

 and Joanna Horner. Loudon : H. G. £ohn. 



