I ^4 Analysts of Books. [March, 
knowledge as to the proper mode of viewing the true principles 
that should regulate the ethical feelings existing between the 
sexes, than in any other of those branches of knowledge which, 
in other respedts, have raised him so far above the rest of the 
living world.” 
Mr. Preston then proceeds to plead for greater freedom in the 
relations between the sexes. He denounces the rigid Puritanism, 
absurd proprieties, and restraints of the present day, especially 
in England. He argues that “an unnatural system of coercive 
restraint aggravates the passions [why plural ? would not ‘ appe- 
tite be the better term ?] to an inordinate degree, and is certain 
to be followed by excesses.” This is scarcely to be doubted. 
Piobably in no capital city does prostitution appear in a form so 
dangerous to society as in prudish London. “ Puritanism,” says 
our author, “ may truly be said to be one of the worst vices, as it 
is the source of evils of the most injurious character.” This is 
a bold assertion ; but if we take a dispassionate review of the 
hindrance it has proved to Art, to Literature, and to Science 
even, and that those districts where it was most rampant are 
precisely those where to this day the lucrative vices most flourish, 
we shall not be able to refuse our assent. 
But we, as a people, have been reared for generations under 
such a system of hard-and-fast regulations, imposed upon us not 
by any tyrant, but by ourselves, that their removal would be the 
signal for impropriety. On the Continent, e.g., public gardens 
can exist without fences and gates. Were we to try the experi- 
ment our parks would quickly be ravaged and laid waste. Hence 
any lelaxation of existing customs can be effedted but gradually. 
The second essay, “ Science and Sectarian Religion, or a Per- 
sonal Experience of the Evils of Religious Dodtrine,” bears the 
significant motto “ Truth needs no sandtification,” and is even 
bolder than the foregoing. A work which appeared a few years 
ago, under the title “The Unseen Universe,” furnishes the 
author with his starting-point, though it is not formally reviewed. 
A prominent and startling idea is most distinctly conveyed in the 
following passage “According to the dogma of infinitely lasting 
punishment, the punishment for vice in this world would be 
infinitely inadequate, which is practically tantamount to teaching 
that the pursuit of vice must be infinitely profitable in this life.” 
Mr. Preston made substantially the same statement in a paper 
on Natural “ Science and Morality,” which he communicated to 
the “Journal of Science” in 1880, and which will be found on 
p. 450. We do not find, however, that anyone has attempted 
its refutation. 
On p. 27 we find a passage which may sadden or amuse the 
reader, according as he is of a Heraclitan or Democritan vein •— 
“ I may mention here (for the sake of illustration) the modern 
‘ Salvation Army ’ scheme, whose programme a well-known 
Review has recently lowered itself enough to publish.” In a 
