1823. 
in favour either of a fact, or of an opi- 
nion, that it can be made to appear ridi- 
culcus, The legitimate use of these ap- 
palling weapons is so well illustrated by 
our author, that we cannot do better than 
give his own words :—‘‘ Meantime,” says 
he, “Jet not any mau make to bim-elf a 
pretence for rejecting the important posi- 
tion thus offered to his consideration; iet 
him not, for fear of its being the tmth, 
shut his eyes against that which is pre- 
sented to him as and for the irath; let 
him not shut his eyes, on any such pre- 
tence as that of its being deficient in the 
quality of seriousness. If, indeed, there 
be any such daty, religious or moral, as 
that of seriousness; and that the stating 
as absurd that which is really absurd, is a 
violation of that duty; at that rate, seri- 
ousness is a quality incompatible with 
the delivery and perception of trath on 
all subjects, and in particular on this of 
the most vital importance: seriousness is 
a disposition to cling to falsehood, and to 
reject truth.” It must be acknowledged 
that there are many passages in this vo- 
lume that appear to have been written 
more in a playful than in a serious hu- 
meer; and, on the reading of which, he 
who bas net been impressed in early 
yeuth with the awfualness of the subject 
might be tempted to smile ; for instance : 
—‘Foliows a sample of Paul’s logic, 
wrapt np as usual in a cloud of tautologies 
and pavalogisms, the substance of which 
amounts to this :—Jesus resurrects ; there- 
fore, all men will do the same. Admitting 
the legitimacy of this induction, what will 
be the thing proved? That every man, a 
few days after his death, will come to life 
again, and eat, drink, and walk in com- 
pany with his friends!” We grant that it 
1s not quite fair to reason in this flippant 
manner on so serious a subject. But let 
not the true believer be afraid of the con- 
sequences of such reasoning, He may 
rest assured, that the mass of mavkind 
will never cease to look for happiness in 
the Heavens; nor (we fear) to persecute 
one another for the discordance in their 
belief. Were we even so unfortunate as 
to suspect, what it would be dangerous to 
acknowledge, that the Christian religion 
is a tissue of fables, we should reckon it a 
hopeless task to attempt to eradicate the 
belief in those fables from the creed of the 
multitude. Reason and knowledge are 
of slow growth and difficult acquirement, 
and can be brought to maturity only un- 
der peculiar circumsfances and in certain 
minds; but the seeds of superstition, if 
sown in the nursery, will bear fruit under 
every climate and in every soil. 
Principles of the Kantesian or Transcen- 
dental Philosophy ;by Tuomas WirnGMman, 
author of the articles Kant, Logic, Meta- 
physics, Moral Philosophy, and Philo- 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
357 
sophy, in the Encyclopedia Londinensis, 
merit notice from the celebrity they have 
acquired. The following Axioms of this 
‘Transcendental Philosophy indicate a 
clear method. 
1, Consciousness is the power to distinguish our- 
selves from surrounding objects, and from our own 
thoughts. 
2. Time is the form of internal sense. 
3. Space is the form of external sense. 
4. Sense makes-intuitions. 
5, Understanding makes conceptions. 
6, Reason makes ideas, 
The Definitions seem unexceptionable 
when understood, and these, with the 
preceding, may convey some notion of 
the mature object of this philosophy ; 
which, after all, we consider rather as a 
system of metaphysical logic than of 
philosophy. , 
1. Intuition— every thing present in time and 
space; that we can fecl, see, hear, taste, or smell. 
2. Conceplion—every thing absent in time and 
space ; that wecan think of only, but cannot touch, 
3. Idea—every thing outof time and space; that 
we can think of only, but which never can come 
into time and space. 
4. Knowledge is intuition comprehended under 
conception. 
5. Thought is conception joined to conception. 
Mr. Danteit’s Mcteorological Essays 
constitute decidedly the best work which 
we have seen on the intricate subjects of 
atmospheric phenomena. {[t analyzes and 
arranges, and tabulates mach, yet it af- 
firms and concludes little, owing to the 
desnitory character of past observations, 
and to so little having previously been 
determined. The comparisons and _ col- 
lections of Mr. D. will, nevertheless, be 
eminently useful to all-future writers, and 
will greatly assist the views of observers 
and reasoners on these interesting topics. 
While Mr. D. is very severe on the Royal 
Society, he pays a just tribate to the va- 
Iuable labours of Mr. Luke Howard. 
The new Society devoted to Meteorology, 
will now confer increased value on Mr. 
Daniell’s future editions; and we. hope 
that, in a few years, the description of 
most of the phenomena of the atmosphere 
will equal in precision Descartes’ Analysis 
of the Rainbow. 
Mr. GoLpswortuy Gurney has pwb- 
lished a pleasing volume of. Lectures on 
Experimental Philosophy. Being delivered 
before a popular audience, they are ne- 
vertheless not common-place; but, amidst 
the usual orthodox absurdities about at- 
traction, repulsion, and caloric, exhibit 
many novel and ingenious reasonings. 
He tells us some pleasant anecdotes of 
faith in alchymy among men of  intellec- 
tual reputation, proving that any folly of 
the day may have respectable votaries. 
The new electro-magnetic experiments 
are very neatly described, and all recent 
topics of philosophical curiosity are very 
perspicuously brought before the reader. 
The only faults of the volume are in the 
system of principles which an employed. 
lecturer, under thie direction of the com- 
mittee, 
