296 
POPULAR SCIENCE REYIEW. 
cesses by which they were effected. Sketches of the geology of Geauga 
and Holmes counties, by M. C. Read, and of Williams, Fulton, and Lucas 
counties, by C. K. Gilbert. On the present state of Iron Manufacture in 
Great Britain, by W. B. Potter. And, lastly, some interesting notes on 
the present state of the Steel industry, by H. Newton. 
MAN’S ORIGIN AND DESTINY.* 
A SINGULAR book this ; one of its own kind, full of learning, and 
rather addressed by its style to those who are engaged in similar 
pursuits than intended for the populace. It is essentially a deistical work, 
not Atheistic, for the author concludes by expressing a belief that there is 
a Deity, and that we shall hereafter, when we have passed from this world, 
enjoy a life of intense happiness. However, it is not that portion of the 
book wdrich contains the speculations of the author that is the most im- 
portant. Especially those chapters — and they are numerous enough, as the 
book extends over more than 770 pages — which deal with the scriptural 
account of the Lord, and the various other writings, some of them very old, 
and others the works of the holy men of the middle ages, are full of interest, 
for they let us into secrets that were unknown to all but those who have 
made the biblical records the study of their lives. We cannot attempt to 
review the author’s efforts for they are to be judged alone by those few 
Eastern scholars who can thoroughly follow the writer throughout. Still 
we see beyond question that he is quite correct in his onslaught on the sup- 
posed divine origin of the Pentatench, and other biblical writings. Starting 
with Origen’s question, he asks, “ What man of good sense will ever persuade 
himself that there has been a first, a second, and a third day, and that these 
days have each of them had their morning and their evening, when there 
was as yet neither sun nor moon nor stars? What man is there so simple 
as to believe that God, personifying a gardener, planted a garden in the East? 
that the true tree of life was a real tree, which could be touched, and the 
fruit of which had the power of preserving life? ” It is certainly too true 
that the great mass of people believe the tales of Moses, whilst they would 
not think of believing them if they were in the writing of a Greek 
philosopher, or a Rabbi, or a Mahometan, because they believe Moses to have 
been inspired. But we certainly agree with the learned author, that when 
we see that these books of Moses are full of repetitions and contradiction, 
we must give up all notion of their being inspired. A few of these con- 
tradictions may not be known to all, so we give them from the author : 
“ The hesitation of Moses when he received the order to deliver the Israelites 
is mentioned twice in different terms. The miracle of the cloud on the 
tabernacle is related twice with different particulars. Jacobus made to be 
84 years old when he took Leah to wife, while Dinah was scarcely seven 
years of age when she was violated by Shechem, and Simeon and Levi 
* On “Mankind, their Origin and Destiny,” by an M.A. of Balliol 
College, Oxford. London : Longmans, 1872. 
