43& 
Correspondence. 
[July* 
a part (of the unknown), and this is gravely set forth as an 
explanation of the mystery of the Universe. 
Such loose and shallow thinking forms but a poor plattorm 
whence to sneer at the sublimity of the Cosmos, or to raise 
doubts as to our having “ very much to do with thoughts and 
perceptions which shine dimly through long spaces of years. 
The fadt is this : we must either admit matter (cerebrum, 
world, and all) to be real, in which case the infinity and sub- 
limity of the Cosmos, however “ nauseous ” such themes may be 
to C. N., must also impress themselves upon students of that 
Cosmos as real, in proportion to the amount of their observation 
(and “ nauseous,” surely, in inverse proportion thereto) ; or, we 
must give up matter (cerebrum and all), and assert our own im- 
material existence, as the centre, if you will, of an immaterial 
environment (to whom such assertion will doubtless be lmma- 
tei But' to plead a material brain as the procreator of a pheno- 
menal world, and to deny that world the materialism we 
arrogantly usurp for that brain, and on such a foundation to 
plant the philosophy of an “ Autocentric ideal,” is very effectively 
to invalidate the claims of such a philosophy to one moment’s 
consideration or attention, either on the part of Spiritualists or 
Materialists. „ T 
.r . Jl • L/. 
Brixton, June 3, 1884. 
SELF-PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 
With reference to the article by “ Argus,” in your May numbei, 
I wish to call your attention to an additional instance of a pol- 
luted river becoming purer as it flows. 
A Mr. G. Rydill, in the preamble to the specification of a 
patent (A. D., No. 391), states that he is well acqu’anted with 
the River Calder, which at a certain part is so foul that fish 
cannot live in it. But after flowing for about four miles, and 
passing over three wears, it becomes so much purified that fish 
make their appearance along with other forms of higher life, both 
animal and vegetable. 
Inventor. 
