2iQ QUARTERLY JOURNAL, 



anxious to extend the information it contains. We now take otrr 

 leave of it for this time, intending, however, to take another 

 opportunity for completing our analysis of its contents. 



VESTIGES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION 



Republication, by Wilet & Putnam. 12mo. pp.291. 



** He has sometimes hinted that man might perhaps have been naturally a quadruped 

 and thinks it would be very proper that at the Foundling Hospital some childre»^ 

 should be enclosed in an apartment, in which the nurses should be obliged to walk 

 half upon four and half upon two, so that the younglings, being bred without the pre- 

 judice of example, might have no other guide than nature, and might at last come 

 into the world as genius should direct, erect or prone, on two legs, or on four." 



The Idler. 



That curiosity which prompts us to search into the nature of 

 those agencies which have been concerned in arranging the con- 

 stituent materials of the earth, or the character of those laws 

 which preside over the development of animate bodies, ought not 

 to be styled frivolous or vain. That such inquiries often carry us 

 beyond the pale of experiment and observation, is freely admitted j 

 still, if we are within the province of reason, we may get from her 

 those responses which can n&t be given by an experimental phi- 

 losophy. She may, it is true, give us indistinct replies ; or, her 

 answers may not remove every doubt , yet we may be assured that 

 they will be neither absurd, nor conflict with experiences well de- 

 termined. 



As a mind once awakened, though perhaps only partially en- 

 lightened, will rarely fall back into a state of apathy j so, one that 

 is fully aroused can hardly be expected to tread the beaten track ; 

 yet, it seems to be true, that there is less occasion for running into 

 absurd speculations now, than at any former period. In some 

 minds, however, the imaginative powers are so largely developed, 

 that they preponderate over those of sober observation ; and hence^ 

 the equipoise between them being destroyed, they are prone to 

 mistake speculation for demonstration ; or else, are easily satisfied 

 with a very few facts hastily snatched up by the way. 



We d5> not deny, however, that we are often pleased in the pens- 

 sal of speculative works, even though they belong to that class 

 which may be styled unproductive j yet we prefer that they should 





