Art. V. A Review of Hickok' s Rational Cosmology; by David 

 Murray, Secretary of the Albany Institute. 



Read before the meeting of May 10, 1859. 



Rational Cosmology ; or, The Eternal Principles and Necessary Laws 

 of the Universe: By Laurens P. Hickok, D. D., Union College. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Company, 1858. 



Among the Metaphysical thinkers of the present day, the 

 author of the work, whose name stands at the head of this 

 article, has held for many years a distinguished rank. He 

 has entered with a bold heart upon the difficult and entangled 

 questions which have perplexed his predecessors ; and if 

 he has not succeeded in making any clearer the intricacies 

 of Metaphysics, it was perhaps only because human faculties 

 could do no more. His Rational Pschycology, which was 

 the first of his works, secured for him the respectful notice 

 of metaphysical thinkers ; and it is to be presumed that 

 his subsequent publications on Mental and Moral Philoso- 

 phy did not detract from his well earned reputation. 



It was a bolder step when he entered the field covered 

 by the present volume. To lay down successfully the eter- 

 nal principles on which the universe was created — to say 

 with certainty why each fact must be as we find it, and not 

 otherwise — would surely be the greatest triumph which the 

 human mind could achieve. It has usually been conceded 

 that this was a task beyond the abilities of man, and that to 

 attempt it was likely to result in little else than a conspi- 

 cuous failure. This attempt, indeed, has often been made, 

 and Dr. Hickok is not the first to propose an a priori solution 

 of the problem of the universe. The philosophers of Greece 

 brought to this task all the penetration of their most pene- 

 trans, v.] 13 



