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EDINBURGH EVENING COURANT. 



" We have no knowledge who may be the author of this very 

 remarkable book, but we feel no doubt of the justice of the de- 

 scription we thus apply to it. Its object is to attempt the solu- 

 tion of those perplexing questions concerning the relations of the 

 spiritual and the material worlds which have been distinctively 

 termed transcendental by modern metaphysicians, and by some 

 argued to be insoluble. But in his treatment of this high theme, 

 the present writer differs materially from most of his predecessors 

 in, at tea**, one not unimportant point. He uses no new-coined 

 words to convey his thoughts, but expresses himself throughout 

 in ordinary language. The result is, not that obscurity or want 

 of precision which in other quarters have seemed only avoidable 

 by the employment of a special term to define every shade of 

 meaning, but, on the contrary, a singular clearness and intelligi- 

 bility, combined also with this advantage that, open the volume 

 where we will, we may at once understand the meaning of the 

 passage before us, without having to explore the sense of various 

 technical expressions which have been introduced and explained 



in previous chapters The book is plainly no work of 



a novice in the realms of thought. The closeness of the reason- 

 ing, the firm grasp with which the thread of the argument is 

 constantly held, the singular force of the illustrations introduced, 

 and the striking lucidity of the style, all indicate a writer habi- 

 tuated both to think deeply and to clothe his thoughts in words. 

 The chief topics discussed are the relations of time and eternity, 



of spirit and matter, and of life and death It will afford its 



readers some of the highest pleasure the mind of man can enjoy, 

 laying open to intellectual contemplation prospects of almost 

 inconceivable grandeur and extent." 



NORTH BRITISH REVIEW. 



The work is ably and earnestly written ; the central idea is 

 never lost sight of ; and the style is so attractive that, except in 

 the metaphysical portions, the reader is sure to be absorbed and 



carried along with never flagging interest The author, 



however, is fundamentally wrong." 



