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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ronment. But it is manifest, on a moment's 

 consideration, that corporeality may exist 

 under very divergent conditions. It is not at 

 all improbable that substances of a refrac- 

 tory nature might be so mixed with other 

 substances, known or unknown to us, as to 

 be capable of enduring vastly greater vicis- 

 situdes of heat and cold than is possible 

 with terrestrial organisms. . . . There may 

 be intelligences corporealized after some 

 concept not involving the processes of inges- 

 tion, assimilation, and reproduction. Such 

 bodies would not require daily food and 

 warmth. They might be lost in the abysses 

 of the ocean, or laid up on a stormy cliff 

 through the tempests of an Arctic winter, or 

 plunged in a volcano for a hundred years, 

 and yet retain consciousness and thought. 

 It is conceivable. Why might not psychic 

 natures be enshrined in indestructible flint 

 and platinum ? These substances are no 

 further from the nature of intelligence than 

 carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and lime." 



" General Cosmogony " is the title of 

 Part III, which consists of a short chapter 

 on the condition of the fixed stars and neb- 

 ulae, with some general considerations on the 

 whole system. " Evolution of Cosmogonic 

 Doctrine " occupies the rest of the volume. 

 In these concluding chapters the growth of 

 man's view of the universe is traced from 

 the partial conceptions of the Greek phi- 

 losophers to the comprehensive system of 

 modem astronomers. The theories of Kep- 

 ler, Descartes, Leibnitz, Swedenborg, and 

 Thomas Wright, are described briefly, and 

 that of Kant is given with some detail. 

 Then follow the views of Lambert, Sir Will- 

 iam Herschel, and Laplace, and a brief 

 " Systematic R6sum6 of Opinions." 



Man a Creative First Cause: Two Dis- 

 courses delivered at Concord, Mass., 

 July, 1882. By Rowland G. Hazard, 

 LL. D. Boston: Houghton, MifiBin & 

 Co. Pp. 112. 



In this instructive little volume we have 

 a compact and very lucid restatement of the 

 leading philosophical views Of its veteran 

 author, which were several years ago de- 

 veloped in an extended form in his more 

 elaborate works. Mr. Hazard is well known 

 as a man of original and versatile thought, 

 and has dealt with a considerable variety of 



subjects, practical as well as theoretical, in 

 his various publications ; but he will prob- 

 ably be best known in the future by his 

 comprehensive metaphysical treatise en- 

 titled " On the Freedom of the Mind in 

 Willing." The origin of this work is, on 

 various accounts, so interesting and signifi- 

 cant, that it should not be forgotten. 



The celebrated Dr. William Ellery Chan- 

 ning, whose reputation is world-wide as a 

 gifted preacher, a discriminating philan- 

 thropist, and as the father of American 

 liberal theology, is understood to have been 

 in a somewhat unsettled state of mind upon 

 what may be regarded as the logic of the 

 old free-will controversy. He is said to 

 have "confessed to an incapacity to form 

 any satisfactory philosophical theory and 

 defense of that moral freedom in which he 

 devoutly and earnestly believed." Dissatis- 

 fied with all that had been written upon the 

 problem, and confessedly unable himself to 

 cope with its difficulties, and at the same 

 time holding inflexibly by the doctrine of 

 mental liberty in volition, he was very natu- 

 rally solicitous to see the question handled 

 by some powerful intellect, qualified for the 

 research, and who could put the proofs of 

 man's moral liberty on a firmer basis than 

 they had hitherto occupied. But who was 

 to be found competent to enter upon this 

 formidable task? Learned scholars were 

 suflaciently abundant. The colleges turned 

 out their annual multitude of men who had 

 been long steeped in recondite studies ; 

 whose intellects had been disciplined and 

 sharpened by those marvelous instrumen- 

 talities destined from the foundations of 

 the world "for the perpetual training of 

 the minds of the later generations," the 

 dead languages, but Dr. Channing did not 

 find his man in this class. In his celebrated 

 essay on "Self-Culture," there occurs the 

 following passage : " I have known a man 

 of vigorous intellect who had enjoyed few 

 advantages of early education, whose mind 

 was almost engrossed by the details of an 

 extensive business, who composed a book 

 of much originality of thought in steam- 

 boats, on horseback, while visiting distant 

 customers." 



The book here referred to was entitled 

 " Language : an Essay," and was written 

 forty-seven years ago by Mr. Hazard. Dr. 



