Notices of New Books. 



8265 



Notices of New Books. 



' On Unity of System? London : E. Newman, 9, Devonshire Street, 

 Bishopsgate. 1862. 24 pp. letterpress. Price Sevenpence, 

 post free. 



In introducing this little brochure to the notice of my readers I wish 

 to observe that, as the printer, I possess information respecting it which 

 the author has omitted to impart to the public, namely, that although 

 apparently complete in itself, this is but the first of a series of sheets 

 to be issued at intervals ; but just as (to use the author's own expres- 

 sion) " all the parts of creation represent each other, and are severally 

 figurative of the whole plan," so does the sheet now before me represent 

 truthfully the author's views of the " unity of system," however those 

 views may be elaborated, extended and reproduced in the sheets which 

 are to follow. 



The way in which each paragraph is headed is somewhat novel in 

 literature, and possesses the great advantage of giving concisely the 

 author's interpretation of his own thoughts. I could wish this plan 

 were more generally followed : how often do we not meet with long 

 and involved paragraphs in mystical or speculative works, which, being 

 unaccompanied by this key, leave no impression whatever on the 

 mind ! 



" The necessity and the advantages of system. — The injunction 

 in the Bible, to search and to investigate the works of creation, is 

 accompanied with the assurance that the laws of Nature, the history 

 of mankind, and what is contained in the Bible, are all parts of one 

 system, and that the Sciences, or the various branches of knowledge, 

 converge more together in proportion to their progress. Little more 

 than one hundred years have elapsed since system, to any extent, was 

 applied to Natural History ; but the progress in that study, by means 

 of the use of system was afterwards continually more rapid." — (P. 5). 



The author's views of creation appear to approach those of Mr. 

 Darwin, but whereas Mr. Darwin seems to imply the existence of a 

 continual progress, and that all forms, even the most elaborately com- 

 plex, may have been evolved from a single monad, the author of the 

 ' Unity of System,' while he admits and defines the constant change, 

 the constant divergence from a given type, yet assures us that 



" Divergence precludes progress. — All creatures have one origin ; 

 for it is well known that there is no apparent difference between the 

 VOL. XX. 3 L 



