those of Dr. KRAPF, may almost be said to have formed a junction at Cape Delgado. Indeed, the travelers approached each other within five degrees, the small sections of the coast not visited by either, being confined within 10° and 15° southern latitude. The collection towards a history of the literature of Abessinia and the natives of Eastern Africa, has been compiled from the memoranda of Dr. KRAPF and other sources, and suffices in bring together such information on the subject as cannot fail to interest the student of ethnology and linguistic science. 3.--Autobiographical Recollections. By the late CHARLES ROBERT LESlie, R. A. Edited with a prefatory Essay on LESLIE as an artist, and selections from his correspondence. By TOM TAYLOR, Esq. 12mo.. pp.363. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. Mr. LESLIE'S admirers, of whom he possesses many, both in England and United States, will have good reason to thank the publishers for the fit manner in which they have brought forth these recollections of the artist whose happy combination of endowments as an artist, added to the pure morality of his pri vate life, have endeared his memory to so many. In sketching these recollec tions and correspondence, we have been struck, though a stranger, with the gen uine qualities indicated, especially in this correspondence of Mr. LESLIE's--habitually sincere, affectionate, equable, thoughtful of others, tolerant, loving to dwell on the good rather than the bad about him, his life was indeed a victory, and it would be well if there were more lives that should show so exact a parallel of good attributes in the workman and his works. 4.-Movement Cure: an Exposition of the Swedish Method of Treating Disease by Movement Cure, Embracing the History and Philosophy of this System, with Examples and Directions for their use in various forms of Chronic Disease -being a complete manual of exercises; together with a Summary of the Principles of General Hygiene. By GEORGE H. TAYLOR, M.D. 12mo., cloth, pp. 396. New York: Fowler & Wells. The Movement Cure as now practiced, was first introduced by Peter Henry Ling, of Sweden. In 1814 the Swedish Government gave it sanction and support, since which time it has been steadily growing in public favor. Dr. Taylor, the author, has given the subject much attention, having visited Sweden for the express purpose of learning the system from its native teachers. The Movement-Cure, as a specialty of medical practice, depends entirely on physiological means for the accomplishment of its purposes. It points out the means of directing the corporeal energies into just those channels in which they are most needed, in order to perfect the balance of the physiological processes. It enables the system to develop and maintain its forces in greater amount, because it employs them naturally and without undue waste. And because it thus limits itself to a realm of facts concerning which there is no question, it has a right to expect the approval of physicians of all the different schools, even of those advocating opposing theories. It requires assent only to the plainest and most obvious facts and inferences of physiology. In the Movement-Cure, all physicians meet on common ground and blend their differences. Those who are tired of drugs, will rejoice at the publication of this work; and although they may not subscribe to all its teachings, will find in it much good sense, practical advice, and a plan which all may adopt, and practice at home. 5.—The Sand Hills of Jutland. By HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, author of the "Improvisation," &c. 12mo., pp. 267. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. Among the many story books we are receiving, it is long since we have persued one so charmingly interesting as are these fanciful sketches of Mr. Anderson's, whether viewed in their moral light, or in the peculiar winning style in which they are written, which, though purely imaginative, a much higher object seems to have been kept in view than is usual in works of this class. Thus while exciting the fancy to the utmost, each tale is characterized by a well defined and useful moral purpose, which cannot but prove beneficial to those for whom they are intended-the youthful reader. CONTENTS OF NO. III., VOL. XLIII. ARTICLES. ART. PAGE I. REVIEW, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL, OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY; OR, INTRODUCTION TO A MORE COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM. PART VIII. The Intellectual Night or Dark Age of Europe briefly remarked upon, and its Five Distinguishing Features-The Dawn of Modern Science Glanced at-The Commonly Supposed Influence of Lord Bacon on the Cause of Science Critically Considered-His System of Philosophy Critically Examined-Descartes and Leibnitz Briefly Noticed, as the Great Representative Men of France and Germany, and to some extent, of the Age, though less so than Bacon-Distinguishing Characteristics of the Present Age-The necessity of henceforth rendering our Review more strictly Critical, as it has been hitherto more peculiarly Historical, and of adopting the Synthetic instead of the Analytic Method of considering the Sociological Ideas passing under our Review....... II. VALUATION OF LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES. No. v. By Prof. C. F. MOCAY, of Georgia...... III. FORGERY. By the author of "Commercial Commodities Characterized ”. IV. OPIUM TRADE OF INDIA. Origin of Trade-Present Amount-Poppy-Process of Manufacture-Dealers-Chinese Purchases - American Captain-Steam Citidels-Gambling Nature-Large Capital-Use of Opium...... 275 301 306 313 V. FINANCIAL HERESIES. BY CHARLES H. CARROLL, Merchant, of Boston............ 317 JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW. Delivery of Cotton 322 Marine Insurance-Breach of Warranty in Marine Policy-When only "Deviation" Allowable 324 COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW. Business of the Month-Imports-Exports-Wheat-Crops-Large Wheat Deliveries-CornElements of Demand-Export and Prices for July-Cotton and Harvests-Supply too Large -No Speculation - West Sells all its Surplus-No Home Demand-Railroad SecuritiesRates of Money - Fall in Value-Specie-Foreign Bills - Specie Shipments-California Bills -United States Mint-Assay-Office-Current of Specie-Bank Reserve-Bank DiscountsRepresentative Value-The Inflation of Prices-Legislative Enactments.. 826-333 Debt of Russia.-Bank Profits.-July Dividends.... New York City Banks, quarterly statement, June 25, 1960-New York City Banks. PAGE JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE. British Specie Imports and Exports, six months, to June 30...... Banks of the United States, January, 1860. English Customs Duties.. City Weekly Bank Returns-banks of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Pittsburg. St. Louis, Providence.. 834 335 336 337 340 342 343 344 Mouths of the Mississippi -Tobacco-Its Growth and Consumption... British Exchange of Cotton Goods for Cotton... Annual Coffee Circular.-Exports from New Orleans.. Exports of Charleston, S. C., quarter to June 30, 1860. African Laborers.-Canadian Reciprocity.. NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. The Harbor of New York... Ships Building on the Lakes... Lake Tides.-Tonnage on the Lakes Disasters on the Lakes-The New Route between the West and England 356 357 358 858 New Lights at Civita Vecchia and Ancona.-Montauk Point Lighthouse, Long Island, N. Y... 359 Lighthouse on Merrill Shell Bank, Coast of Mississippi... Single Revolving Light in the Gull Stream, England............... 859 359 Local Dispatch Posts Suppressed.-The Newspaper Window at the London Post-office........ 360 Insurance Dividends. POSTAL DEPARTMENT. JOURNAL OF INSURANCE. COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. New Hampshire Fire Insurance Companies... Rates of Pilotage in and out of the Mississippi Passes.-Certificate of Origin.. Siam Duties Plaques-Caustic Soda.. Copy Books with Printed Headings.-Human Hair.-Cuban Manifests of Cargoes.. Railroad Receipts for July.-A Method of Testing the Strength of Steam Boilers.. JOURNAL OF MINING, MANUFACTURES, AND ART. Tin-Its Uses and Commerce... Engraving on Glass Rags 361 362 863 364 365 866 367 368 370 371 872 873 New York City Railroads -Railways of Connecticut. 374 375 Manufacture of Room or Wall Paper. 876 377 Cotton Spindles.... 378 Silvering Lead Tubing.-Gas-light Companies of the United States.. 379 Thimble Manufacturing. 380 Cooling of Metal Causing it to Heat Itself.-The American Pump.. 881 STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE, &c. MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. Governors of Cuba.-Trading Too Much.. Vinyards of France American Agriculture.... Sugar Estates of Cuba - Forests-Their Decrease.. Parceling of Land in France.... The Japanese Silk Worm.-Silk of Zurich.-Flax and silk in Great Britain Emigration from the British Isles.-Pennsylvania Cities The Cost of Recovering a Debt-No Excellence Without Labor. Benefits of Advertising Illustrated.-Trade and Population among the Chief European States 394-395 Tobacco-One Price.... 882 383 3-4 885 386 387 388 389 390-391 392-893 IIUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. SEPTEMBER, 1860. Art. I.-REVIEW, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL, OF THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY:* * OR, INTRODUCTION TO A MORE COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM. PART VIII. THE INTELLECTUAL NIGHT OR DARK AGE OF EUROPE BRIEFLY REMARKED UPON, AND ITS FIVE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES-THE DAWN OF MODERN SCIENCE GLANCED AT-THE COMMONLY SUPPOSED INFLUENCE OF LORD BACON ON THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE CRITICALLY CONSIDERED-HIS SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY CRITICALLY EXAMINED-DESCARTES AND LEIBNITZ BRIEFLY NOTICED, AS THE GREAT REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF FRANCE AND GERMANY, AND, TO SOME EXTENT, OF THE AGE, THOUGH LESS SO THAN BACON-DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRESENT AGE-THE NECESSITY HENCEFORTH OF RENDERING OUR REVIEW MORE STRICTLY CRITICAL, AS IT HAS BEEN HITHERTO MORE PECULIARLY HISTORICAL, AND OF ADOPTING THE SYNTHETIO INSTEAD OF THE ANALYTIO METHOD OF CONSIDERING THE SOCIOLOGICAL IDEAS PASSING UNDER OUR REVIEW. ness. THE intellectual night which overspread Europe from the latter part of the fifth to that of the fifteenth century was not one of utter darkThe reflected sunshine of former science threw a dim and solemn light, resembling twilight, and which may be assimilated to the protracted twilight of the northern latitudes, (if indeed it may not properly be compared to moonlight,) over the darkened landscape of European society, by which considerable attainments were made in architectural science, though chiefly in the departments of church building and castle building, and in other sciences which appertain to a state of society considerably elevated above that of rude or simple barbarism. For in the intellectual night, to which mankind are liable, and in which they seem often to remain for a considerable period, without the fact being male apparent to common observation-as a native of the torrid zone might pass through a summer night in the arctic regions, without * Entered according to an act of Congress, in the year 1859, by Gɛo. W. & JNO. A. WOOD, in the Clerk's Olice of the District Court of the United States, for the southern district of New York. realizing that it was night-the functions of the intellect are not by any means suspended, not any more so than are those of the natural world, by the terrestrial night to which it is subject; although the functions of nature in both cases-the physical in the one, and the psychological in the other are performed with much less vigor and healthful manifestations during the period of night. Nor was this intellectual night of Europe unrelieved by such transient and partial illuminations as often relieve the darkness of the terrestrial night. Intellectual lights of uncommon magnitude, like splendid meteors, (if indeed they may not more properly be compared to blazing comets,) among the brightest of which may be named Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, Abelard, Aquinas, and Roger Bacon, gleamed occasionally across the benighted sky, causing partial and transient illuminations, though diffusing no steady light amidst the general darkness. During the same period, the light shed from the far North, by the poets and historians of İceland, then considerably in advance of other European countries, has been beautifully compared to the Aurora Borealis of their native skies,* diversifying the gloom of the European night. During the same period, also, the lingering civilization of Greece, then concentrated around Constantinople, and which may be assimilated to a huge lamp, fed by the oil of a former science, cast a pale and sickly light, in the region of the southwest, though penetrating but a little way into the surrounding and general gloom. During this period of European history, which has been sometimes designated as the "Middle Age," and sometimes as the "Dark Age," there were five prominent influences, or causes, powerfully operating upon the condition of European society, and which have chiefly engaged the attention of those who have treated this portion of general history, either as mere historians, or as critical inquirers into the anatomy of human society-the Feudal System, the Spirit of Chivalry, the Crusades, the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Romish Church, and the Scholastic Philosophy. Neither of these influences, however, need detain us long, in this place, and simply because the ideas which they prominently suggest in relation to the philosophy of society are not of sufficient importance to demand particular consideration, in our Review, which, in the more peculiarly historical portion of it, on which we are now engaged, does not aim to notice any other ideas in Sociology than those which have been either theoretically announced, or else practically and prominently illustrated by actual occurrences or institutions, in former times, and before the present age, in which sociological ideas have assumed so much definiteness and form, in a theoretical point of view, as to admit of a more systematical and strictly critical examination. It is true, that from a critical and searching examination of these influences, or indeed any one of them, in relation to their remote, as well as their immediate bearings on the condition of society, we might deduce many highly important principles in Sociology. For as Burke has justly remarked, "every theme branches off into infinity;" and, as Carlyle, a more profound thinker even than Burke, though a far less accurate and precise one, has said much to the same point, "all objects are as windows, * See Sir George Mackenzie's Travels in Iceland, in 1809; also, American Review, vol iv., p. 986, October No. of 1812. |