JOS 



in composition with the counteracting hemispherical press- 

 ure, as we have above carefully traced, and thereby thicken- 

 ing this primitive ether to a chaotic state of chemical forces 

 that became a resisting material pushed and driven into 

 myriads of separate wheeling spheres, and those spheres 

 sending off from them in their revolutions each its ,own 

 planets and their satellites." 



Is not this perfectly plain? If after this any one can not 

 see exactly how our universe came into being, and how its 

 " myriads of wheeling spheres " were launched, must be a 

 dunce and incapable of understanding the English language ! 

 We commend to the author's attention a fine old poem 

 which runs somewhat after this manner : 



" Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ?" 

 "Gird up thy loins like a man: fori will demand of thee and answer 

 thou me." 



"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if 

 thou hast understanding." 



"Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath 

 stretched the line upon it ?" 



" Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the corner 

 stone thereof." 



We are glad to find that at last we have somebody who 

 can reply to these startling challenges addressed to the 

 Patriarch of Uz. To the first perhaps modesty might forbid 

 him to give a direct answer, but his friends would readily 

 supply the required information. In regard to all the 

 others Dr. Hickok has shown himself abundantly willing 

 and capable to accept the proffered challenge. 



In our strictures on this work we have intentionally 

 avoided dwelling upon the metaphysical and theological 

 portions. Of these we trust to see an adequate review from 

 some able pen. We have restricted ourselves to those parts 

 where it treats of the laws of physics and mechanics ; and 

 in regard to these we have not scrupled to criticise freely. 

 These laws, many of them, have been long known, thor- 

 oughly demonstrated and clearly understood, and we felt 



