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which the subject demands : To suppose that the vital spark is evanescent 
w’hile there is every reason to believe that the atoms of matter are imperish- 
able, is admitting the superiority of matter over mind j an assumption alto- 
gether at variance with the result of geological sequence ; for Sir Charles 
Lyell observes that sensation, instinct and sensation of the higher mammalia 
bordering on reason, and, lastly, the improvable reason of man himself, 
presents us with a pictm-e of the ever-increasing dominion of mind over 
matter.” 
We certainly never gave Mrs. Somerville credit for the feminine mode of 
reasoning ; but anything more supremely ridiculous, more incongruously put 
together, and indeed more nonsensical, than the foregoing passage, we have 
never seen, even in the worst type of female philosophy. 
VESUVIUS.* 
V esuvius has attracted much attention during the past few years from 
both Bi-itish and Continental geologists, and, as a natural consequence, 
much good work has been done in this branch of science. All have been 
engaged in studying the phenomena of the recent outbursts ; but some have 
pursued their enquiries with the help of the spectroscope, some have 
approached the research from a chemical stand-point, others have gone into 
the question of how far physical indications, such as variations of the 
magnetic needle and delicate vibrations appreciable only by the seismometer, 
are associated A%’ith the discharge of lava from volcanoes. But all may be 
said to have one gi’eat problem before them— to find out the source of the 
lieat by which masses of rock become liquid, and are raised to such consider- 
able heights. Further, there presents itself for solution the complex ques- 
tion as to the early condition of our globe, a question which can only be 
answered when the phenomena of mountains like Vesuvius are fully ex- 
plained. Professor l^hillips therefore determined to write as it were the 
clinical history of Vesuvius, to describe the difterent phases of its erup- 
tive affection, and, if possible, to show how the results of recent investiga- 
tions have helped us toward a rational diagnosis. In the handsome volume 
which Messrs. Macmillan have issued, the Oxford Professor has certainly 
done a good deal towards producing a monograph on Vesuvius ; but we shall 
be expressing our critical opinions veiy mildly indeed when we say that his 
appearance in the field need not deter others from giving us the fruit of their 
exertions in the same area of labour. In other words, we may say that 
Professor Phillips has not exhausted his subject, and has not given us all 
the information we had hoped for from a geologist of his very broad expe- 
rience and his very great erudition. About half the volume embraces the 
historj* of Vesuvius prepared from various records, and leading us up from 
the time of Pliny through the seventeenth and eighteenth to the nineteenth 
century. This part of the work will cairy away the interest of the general 
• “ Vesuvius.” By .John Phillips, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Geology in 
the University of Oxmrd. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1869. 
