A Vindication of the Christian Faith; addressed to those who, believing in God, yet refuse or hesitate to believe in Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. By Dr John Inglis, one of the Ministers of Old Grayfriars Church, Edinburgh. William Blackwood. 1830. 8vo. Pp. 354. THE avowed enemies of the Christian Faith, who have rejected its evidences, denied its obligations, and evinced a decided hostility to its institutions, are, the Atheist, the Libertine, and the professed Deist. It is evident that, from the first of these, the great argument in support of revealed religion can expect little favour, inasmuch as with him there is a previous question to be discussed, and this discussion belongs properly to the department of Natural Theology. It is also vain to expect that any evidence which we can adduce will obtain much credit with the Libertine, whose rejection of Christianity proceeds, not from the head, but from the heart,—from a determination not to acknowledge its truth, rather than from any conviction that it is false. But the Deist, who owns the existence of a powerful, wise, and beneficent God, and at the same time professes to disbelieve in the Gospel revelation, is an opponent of a totally different character from the former two; and as, in common with the Christian, he affects to hold in abhorrence the absurdities of the Atheist and the interested dishonesty of the profligate, we may reasonably expect that a clear and full exposition of the evidences of revealed religion will not be addressed to him in vain. We are not, indeed, sanguine enough to expect that the evidences of Christianity, abundantly satisfactory as we acknowledge them to be, must force conviction on the mind of every man who calls himself an honest Deist; we are well aware that secret prejudices may influence such men to reject, in this case, a proof which, in any other case, they would have admitted without hesitation ;-All we mean to say is, that, with the Deist, properly so called, the evidences of religion stand a better chance of being fairly examined and appreciated, than with any other class of infidels. It is to this class that Dr Inglis addresses his Vindication of the Christian Faith, a volume, from the perusal of which we have just risen with a feeling of high admiration for the author, and of much satisfaction with his work. We run no hazard in affirming, that this is the ablest and most important theological treatise which has issued from the press since the days of Dr Paley. The following brief abstract will give our readers some idea of the author's plan. He introduces his argument with the proposition, that a divine revelation was necessary. He then considers the claim of Christianity to be received as such a revelation, from the presumption afforded by the character of-first, its general; secondly, its peculiar doctrines; and thirdly, the moral duties which it inculcates. From the presumptive, he proceeds to the direct and positive evidences, after clearing his way by an elaborate enquiry into the truth of the Gospel history, as comprising facts not miraculous. Then follows a masterly chapter on Miracles. The sub PRICE 6d. ject that comes next under review is Prophecy, in connexion with its fulfilment, which, as a miracle of knowledge, Dr Inglis considers to be equal, and, in some respects, even superior, to a miracle of power, with regard to the evidence which it affords of a divine revelation ;-the obscurity of prophecy is shortly adverted to and justified. attending the propagation of the Gospel. In conclusion, he gives a summary of the whole argument, and insists that all the evidence which is necessary, or which can reasonably be desired, for convincing the candid mind as to the truth of Christianity, has been given; and that more overwhelming proof could not have been afforded consistently with the great design of Providence in regard to the present station of man as a moral agent, not less responsible for his faith than for his practice. Additional evidence is adduced from the circumstances We are sensible that, by this imperfect analysis, we give our readers a very inadequate notion of Dr Inglis's argument, and its successful developement. Many of the subjects here alluded to have been already ably discussed by writers of great eminence, though we are not aware that even separately they have ever been treated with greater perspicuity than by our author; and certainly in their collective capacity, they have never before been made to bear so clearly and so closely upon the great point which the Christian advocate desires to establish. A work like the present was a desideratum in our theological literature. Leslie, Bishop Watson, Dr Campbell, and others, not to mention those writers who have treated of the evidences on a more extensive plan, have furnished ample materials for a complete answer to the Deistical arguments against the truth of Christianity. Still it was perhaps a little unreasonable to expect that, in ordinary cases, either the Christian enquirer or the Deist would willingly undertake the labour of making himself intimately acquainted with the several treatises throughout which the argument was scattered; much less was it to be expected that ordinary readers could combine for themselves the several parts of the argument into one connected view. But here we have a volume of little more than 300 pages, in which all the necessary evidences are stated with clearness, weighed with candour, judiciously advanced according to their relative importance, and rendered subservient to a fair and conclusive proof. We do not mean to hint that the present work is a mere compendium of the evidences as they are brought forward in the several treatises on the subject; we consider it rather as an able and a complete digest of the whole argument. One particular excellence of this volume we must not omit mentioning to the author's praise; we allude to the truly Christian temper which characterises his work, and the fairness with which he treats the arguments and even the prejudices of his opponents. In perusing the arguments of Chalmers, Dr Campbell, Bishop Watson, and sometimes, though less frequently, of Addison, we have occasionally met with reasoning, which to ourselves, who had no previous prejudice to get over in regard to the great point at issue, was sufficiently satisfactory, but which, we could easily perceive, was ill calculated to remove such prejudices where they existed, and which, accord ingly, must have failed of effect with even a tolerably candid Deist. Dr Inglis, on the other hand, is particularly careful of his premises; he is cautious of taking for granted what may with any show of reason be disputed; his strength lies in taking not a metaphysical, but a common sense view of the question; and he is particularly fond of inviting his antagonist to try the truth of Christianity by the same rules which reason would apply to a parallel case, regarding any indifferent question of ordinary life. This, after all, is the proper method of treating the subject; and we should think it the most likely way of making the Deist ashamed of his own unreasonableness; or, at all events, of preventing others from listening to his objections. Our author carefully avoids, however, making any concession which would compromise the dignity of his cause, or the truth of any doctrine which the orthodox creed acknowledges; the complaisance which has received our praise goes no farther than to recommend the author's argument by a candour of reasoning, and a total absence of offensive language, more honourable to himself, and more likely to benefit his cause, than if he had shown himself a skilful master of the acrimonious abuse which has frequently distinguished and disgraced theological controversy. In reading Dr Inglis's volume, we conceive ourselves to be listening not to the ingenious pleading of a talented advocate, who unduly aggravates every circumstance that seems to favour his cause, while he mentions slightly, or keeps altogether out of view, whatever would militate against it; but to the upright judge, who has honestly made up his opinion from the facts laid before him; and who, in summing up the evidence of the whole case, skilfully, but fairly, directs our attention to those points on either side which ought to influence our judgment and affect our decision. To the high praise which we feel disposed to bestow upon the present work, we think it entitled on the following grounds :-Because it enters into a full and fair consideration of the evidences of our religion;-because it furnishes a complete answer to the deistical objections which have been urged against the Christian faith;-and, because this answer is neither couched in difficult language, nor does it involve any nice distinctions or intricacy of argument, which would render it unintelligible to men of ordinary capacity and limited education. It is and this is its peculiar excellence—a plain exposition of what every intelligent unprejudiced Christian, no matter whether he inhabit a college or a cottage, feels to be (as far as natural evidence is concerned) his apology for believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ; and what therefore every sincere believer must rejoice to find so clearly stated, so ably illustrated, and so forcibly urged. In our own opinion, the man who can reject the evidences subjected to his view in Paley's Natural Theology, and Dr Inglis's Vindication of the Christian Faith, has a mind inaccessible to rational | argument, and impenetrable to every thing short of the irresistible Spirit of Divine grace, to whose gracious influence we accordingly recommend him. Alga Britannica; or, Descriptions of the Marine and other Inarticulated Plants of the British Islands belonging to the Order Alga; with Plates, illustrative of the Genera. By Robert Kaye Greville, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. One volume, 8vo. Edinburgh. MacLachlan and Stewart. 1830. Pp. 215. Ir is but of late years that the plants belonging to the class Cryptogamia (the 24th of Linnæus) have been carefully investigated by botanists; but they seem likely to yield a rich harvest to those who engage in the search, as they appear within an ace of equalling in numbers the remaining twenty-three classes put together. Cryptogamie plants differ from those of the other classes, both in their structure and reproductive organs. In structure, the great majority of them are simply cellular; and, in respect to their reproductive organs, they are destitute of stamens and pistils; while their seeds (designated by botanists sporules) have, unlike the seeds of other plants, the power of striking root indifferently from any part of their surface. Botanists have now established twelve orders-forming so many natural families-under which the different Cryptogamic plants are distributed. Of these, one of the most important and interesting is the order Algæ— a class which includes, along with some others, all the plants commonly known under the denomination of seaweeds. For an account of their importance, in an economical point of view, we refer our readers to an abstract in our 62d Number, of a very interesting paper read by Dr Greville to a meeting of the Wernerian Society, which we now find forms part of the introduction to his present work. The Algæ are generally aquatic plants, growing either in the sea or fresh water. Their roots are fibrous, -a mere fleshy callous disk,and are, in some species, not visible. These plants may be said to be all frondose, (the distinct leaves in some species being, from their connexion with the fructification, still called fronds,) some of them wholly so, whilst others support their frond on a stem. Their seeds, named Granules or Sporules, are variously situated; in some instances they are naked, and surrounded by an open involucre, or immersed in the frond; in others, they are contained in distinct capsules, or in tubercles, which are either free or immersed in the frond. In several species, the fructification assumes the shape of a siliqua or pod. Many species are provided with vesicles of different forms; the most common of which are regular inflations of particular parts of the frond, filled with air. These are supposed to be of use in keeping the frond afloat. The substance of the Alga is very varied. Some are perfectly membranaceous and pellucid; others wiry, corneous, and elastic; while others, again, are coriaceous and subligneous. Almost every gradation of colour is to be found among them ; but the prevailing ones are green, red, and brown. The botanist will find Dr Greville's work, although modestly professing to confine itself to the Algae of the British Isles, a source of much more extensive information. It contains, in addition to minute, accurate, and elegant descriptions (illustrated by coloured plates) of all the species native to this country, a Latin synopsis of the known genera, with a systematic enumeration of all the better known species, with authoritative references. The introduction to the work contains, moreover, a concise We have left ourselves no room for pointing out the faults of this volume, even if we had been successful in discovering such. Its minor beauties of style, &c., we do not think it necessary to dwell upon,-they are sufficiently obvious. We have been chiefly anxious to direct the attention of our readers to the higher excellencies of the volume, partly from a sense of justice towards the author, but still more from a conviction that the work it-historical notice of the progress of this department of boself is calculated to become eminently and extensively useful. With regard to Dr Inglis, we have just to say in conclusion, that he is evidently as well acquainted with his Bible as with the Statute Book. His present publication-we believe that, with the exception of an able pamphlet on the Leslie controversy, it is his only one— will obtain for him from posterity, a reputation not less honourable, nor less merited as an author, than that which upon other grounds he enjoys among his own contemporaries. tanical science; an account of the geographical distribution of the different species; and the remarks already alluded to on the economical uses of these plants. The two last-mentioned discussions contain much that must be interesting to every cultivated mind. Indeed, we know few subjects, connected with natural science, more interesting than the geography of plants; and we may as well take this opportunity of saying, that we remember few labourers in this department who know so well as our author to steer clear of the perilous extremes of hasty and superficial generalization on the one hand, or of inability to rise above mere particular observation on the other. We know that we cannot for thousands of minute tribes, and the trunk of a dead keep our bread many days without finding its cavities gartree gives birth to millions. composed of myriads of perfect and beautiful plants. So, nished with blue mould, shown by the microscope to be likewise, with the surface of our cheeses, which not only produce the blue mould, so esteemed by many, but several other species of minute furze, of a white, red, or yellow colour." To conclude, this volume contains a very complete alphabetical catalogue of the authors who have written upon the Algæ, a most necessary appendage to every work of the kind; and the illustrative plates are engraved and coloured in a masterly style. by Mrs Hemans, Mrs Norton, John Bowring, Esq. A Collection of Peninsular Melodies. The English words The airs compiled LL.D. and other eminent Poets. and selected by G. L. Hodges. No. I. Edinburgh. Goulding and Almaine. and Co. London, Robertson Dr Greville informs us, that in preparing materials for this work, his first intention was to do no more than to give a faithful description of the British inarticulated Algae, according to the arrangement of Professor Agardh. The accumulation of materials, however, beyond what he had anticipated, and the conviction of the insufficiency of the Professor's system, impressed upon him by more minute enquiry, induced him to alter his plan; and in the book now before us, the merit not only of the individual descriptions, but of the classification, is justly due to Dr Greville. In forming his genera, Agardh seems to us to proceed too rigidly on the principle, that the fructification among the Algae is capable of furnishing as satisfactory characters as among more perfect plants. The principle may be correct; but while a vast number of Algae are only known to us in a state destitute of fructification, it is highly desirable that characters be admitted which may be rendered available in all states of the plant. "THE music of Spain and Portugal," says the editor Agardh himself admits several genera, in the total absence of fructification, from habit and structure alone. Nay, of this interesting work," has been so generally admired more, he has, on the strength of the fructification, referred for the originality of its character and the sweetness of its to the same genus many species, which have but little melody, as to afford frequent occasion of regret that some affinity among themselves. Thus, if the genus Sphæro- adequate specimens have not as yet been selected from it, coccus, as defined by Agardh, be taken as an example, it in order to take that place to which they are so deservedly will be found to contain a great number of plants totally entitled among the melodies of other countries. It is with different in general habit, texture, and structure, -agree- a view of supplying this deficiency that the compiler of ing, or appearing to agree, only in a certain feature of the the present work now offers to the British public some of fructification. Dr Greville never denies that the fructi- the most popular and admired airs, of which he made a numerous collection during the late campaigns in the fication is a character of primary importance; but by taking into consideration other characters common to each Peninsula." We look upon this as a lucky idea, and are group, whether derived from the root, form, colour, tex- inclined to think very favourably of the manner in which ture, or substance, he has rendered his principle of classi- it is to be carried into execution, from the specimen now before us. We have here fifteen new songs, all of which are fication far more easily applicable. By conducting his exmore or less beautiful, and through which there breathes amination of the Algæ, in the first instance, according to the apparent affinities, independent of the fructification, the fine chivalric and romantic spirit of old Spain. Sevehe has been led to characters in this feature which were ral of the airs are in the highest degree energetic and origipreviously overlooked, and which enabled him so to subdi-nal, and almost all the accompaniments are exceedingly vide some of the genera, as to make the general, or prima facie characters, go along with those taken from the fruit. By this means, also, he has found himself under the necessity of restoring some of the original genera of Lamouroux, abolished with too little ceremony by Professor Agardh. It may be as well to reward the patience of the reader, who has accompanied us through this detail, with a specimen of the amiable tone of moral reflection, by means of which our author knows to enhance the interest of his subject, and to cast an air of dignity over his favourite science: "The botanist finds speculations for the truest philoso phy, in what he used to tread, without reflection, under his feet. He begins to see how admirably plants are adapted to every kind of soil and situation, so as to leave no spot ab solutely uncovered. He perceives, perhaps, with all the vividness of a first impression, that The bleakest rock upon the loneliest heath "He finds the most exposed rocks rearing their lichen skilfully arranged. The words, especially those by our favourite, Mrs Hemans, are admirable. We are sorry that we can afford room for no more than three specimens. As there are only two copies of the work in Edinburgh, the poetry is as yet nearly as good as manuscript : THE MOORISH GATHERING-SONG. By Mrs Hemans. "Chains in the cities! gloom in the air! "Come from the Darro!-changed is its tone; "Come from Alhambra!-garden and grove Where summer leaves were sighing, "And for this heart's wealth wasted, Should I win back aught but scorn? Would my lone truth be repaid?' Nor must we omit to do all justice to Mrs Norton, whose truly graceful and feminine genius is only second to that of Mrs Hemans. We are much pleased with the following specimen of her talents: THE BISCAYEN TO HIS MISTRESS. By Mrs Norton. "Oh! softly falls the foot of love Are there, to speak our happy thought "The balmy air may breathe as sweet, To know that it is free; The winds on our unconquer'd hills Are full of liberty!" of scorching Africa. The breeze died away to a perfect calm, and the sails hung loosely against the masts: thunder followed at a distance. Scarcely had its awful hollow murmurings ceased, when the wind came sweeping along the deep, sudden as the lightning which accompanied it. Our ship, not unlike a sea-bird frightened from repose, rushed through the foaming wave, her wings, extended to the utmost, bearing her onwards with an unusually tremulous rapidity, at once astonishing and alarming. "The seaman's skill was instantly requisite for the prevention of threatened danger. Mind your helm!' cried the Captain, loudly and sternly. Ay, ay, sir,' replied the helmsman, Up and furl the royals and sky-sails!-In stun-sails! -Down flying-gib and stay-sails!-Brail up the try-sails! -Man the top-gallant clue-lines!-Stand by the top-gallant halyards!-Let go !-Clue up!-Jib down!-Haul! -Haul down!'-were the orders given, and accomplished within a few minutes; and in a few minutes more the squall, accompanied with very heavy rain, passed over us; but, without these precautions, it would have proved too much for the Frolic, or perhaps for the stoutest ship that ever sailed on the ocean. "A light breeze succeeded, scarcely sufficient to raise a gentle curl upon the waves; all sail was again set; the moon, surrounded by the resplendent host of heaven, burst with augmented lustre from her concealment, and the overcharged clouds, being now relieved, dispersed into various forms of different shades and hues, leaving the atmosphere around and above so serene and beautiful, as to excite our greater astonishment at the extraordinary suddenness of the change, which is by no means unfrequent between the tropics, sometimes occurring several times in the course of one night."-Vol. I. p. 19-21. Our second extract contains several ANECDOTES OF SHARKS. "Of the voracious nature of the shark, we have all frequently heard or read. The following stories on that subject were related to me this day by the captain and the gunner of the Frolic, just after they had each caught a young one, which gave rise to the conversation. When the Diana We look forward with much pleasure to the continua- frigate was lying at anchor off Vera Cruz, one of the mation of this interesting and valuable work. Travels in Various Parts of Peru; including a Year's Residence in Potosi. By Edmond Temple. In two vols. London. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. 1830. rines, who was sentry in the stern of the ship, by some accident fell overboard in the night; and the captain, who was in bed at the time, hearing the splash in the water, jumped up, and, looking out of the stern-galley, asked, Is that a man overboard? Yes, sir, it is me,' said the marine. Well, have you got hold? Are you safe?' said the captain. Yes, sir, I have hold of the rudder chains; but my musket is gone,' said the marine. 'D-n your musket!' said the captain, and ran upon deck to order a boat to be lowered, which, in a man-of-war, is an operation of but We shall review this work, which has just reached Edinburgh, next week; and, in the meantime, we pre-a very few minutes. In the act of lowering the boat, a sent our readers with two amusing extracts from it. first is descriptive of A SQUALL OFF the cape verd ISLANDS. The "Sunset this evening was truly a splendid sight. The colours of the sky were different from and more various than any I had ever before observed Outvying some the rose, And some the violet, yellow, and white, and blue, The clouds, too, assumed a form, a tinge, and a magnitude, in their masses, that excited the admiration of all on board. No sooner had the sun, in a dazzling blaze, sunk beneath the sea, than the moon shone forth with a brilliancy quite unusual to us of northern climes. Our ship, with all sail set, was gliding silently over the rippled surface of the ocean, at the rate of two or three knots an hour, when, in a few minutes, all was changed. The wide expanse of burnished gold, which replaced the setting sun, faded suddenly away, the moon withdrew her trembling beams, and the clouds, forming into one dense black mantle, overspread the firmament, and, to our view, enveloped the whole universe in darkness. How sudden! What a change!' was the exclamation of every voice, when a flash of lightning attracted all eyes towards the east, just over the barren coast loud shriek was heard, and when the boat's crew went to pick up the man, he was not to be seen. Two days after this event, a shark was caught, and hauled on board the Diana, in the stomach of which was found part of the jacket, and a shoe of the unfortunate marine. "The gunner of the Frolic, in the course of the last war, was employed in the enterprise of cutting out a French frigate, in which one of his comrades lost a leg, and in a few days died, when, as is customary on board ship, he was sewn up in his hammock with a heavy weight in it, commonly a couple of 24-pound shot. Scarcely 20 minutes had elapsed after the body had been committed to the deep, when the hammock and bedding of the deceased were seen floating round the ship, torn to pieces; it is unnecessary to add who, or what, had so soon robbed them of their contents. "There is no fish so easily caught as the shark, and none perhaps more difficult to deprive of life. It is really astonishing to see their exertions with both jaws and tail, long after they have been opened, their intestines and other visceræ cut out, and the skin stripped from the body. "A few years ago, the master of a ship on board which I now am, caught a shark so large, that to avoid accidents in hauling him on board to kill him, they cut him open alongside; and he assured me, that after cutting him down the middle, from the jaws to the tail, and thoroughly cleaning him, they hoisted him up to the fore-yard arm, where he hung up- notice of our readers a paper "On peculiar noises occawards of an hour. (Le vrai peut quelquefois n'etre passionally heard in particular districts, with some further le vraisemblable.) He was then taken down and hauled on board, where he lay stretched along the deck, to all appearance dead as a herring! but he soon exhibited symptoms of being still a shark, by snapping at any person that approached his head; and at last, a boy passing heedlessly by, the animal made a desperate effort towards him with extended jaws, and would inevitably have seized him, had not one of the sailors, who perceived the boy's danger, pushed him away. After this, they were obliged to have recourse to a common practice upon killing these monsters, that of put ting across the jaws a crow-bar, or any other substantial implement, capable of preventing mischief. The only observation I have to make on my story is, that it is faithfully repeated. "Notwithstanding all the atrocities of these formidable creatures, and the inveterate hatred that is shown to them, their flesh is not always despised; to a sea appetite it is sometimes a luxury, and there are few sailors who have caught sharks that have not also made a hearty meal upon them. The two we caught this morning, one about four feet, the other about three feet long, being young and delicate, were reserved for the cabin; and it was agreed, without one dissenting voice, that the dish of shark served up at dinner, was as good a dish of fish as ever was eaten it was cut into slices, something like crimped cod, and fried; but I positively considered it better in every respect than any cod-fish I had ever tasted."-Vol. i. p. 28-31. We shall follow Mr Temple into Peru, and consider his doings there, next Saturday. The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. Conducted by Robert Jameson, Regius Professor of Natural History, &c. &c. in the University of Edinburgh. No. XVI. January-April, 1830. Edinburgh. Adam Black. The Edinburgh Journal of Science. Conducted by David Brewster, LL. D. No. IV. NEW SERIES. April, 1830. Edinburgh. Thomas Clark. BOTH of these periodicals are sufficiently known to render it unnecessary, as it would be presumptuous, for us to characterise them. All that we profess to do is, to enumerate the most interesting discussions contained in each of the numbers now before us. In performing this task, we are only making a slight addition to the view which we attempt to give of the scientific industry of Edinburgh, in our reports of the proceedings of the Royal and other Societies. Having a great veneration for age, we commence with Professor Jameson's, which is the senior Journal. The present Number begins with an interesting memoir of Count Rumford, from the French of Baron Cuvier. Any thing from the pen of that distinguished philosopher must ne cessarily be interesting; and he has here, within very brief limits, shown us a man whom we had been accustomed to view in connexion with no higher matters than soup and patent stoves, in his relations to the science and institutions and social convulsions of the age. The next article of special interest is by the editor, "On the relative ages of the different European chains of mountains;" in which a theory of their formation, novel to us, and at first not a little startling, although we think satisfactorily established, is propounded. Subordinate to this is an able article by our amiable and clearheaded friend, Professor Hausmann of Göttingen, "On the geographical characters and geognostical constitution of Spain," worthy the attention not only of the naturalist, but of the student of military and statistical matters. Connected with the same class of enquiries, is a paper "On the heights of the most remarkable summits of the Cordillera of the Andes in Peru." From these sub jects the transition is easy to the paper "On the height of the perpetual snows on the Cordilleras of Peru;" and thence to Professor Kupper's investigation respecting " "the mean temperature of the atmosphere and the earth in some parts of East Russia." We next recommend to the nected with the old stories of the musical statue of Memremarks on the causes of such sounds;”- —an enquiry connon, the airy “tongues which syllable men's names," and all that class of vague sensations from which fancy draws her dreamiest and most plausible imaginings of a spiritual world. There are also communications on isolated questions of chemistry from Professor Bonsdorff, Dr Davy, Mr Walker Arnott ;-of Zoology, from our learned and and others;—of Botany, from Professor Graham, and able friend Mr James Wilson, who, in his anxiety to have as much of the animal kingdom under his inspection as possible, adds to the proposal made by him in one of his recent communications to the Wernerian Society, to import some additional species of game into this country, (a suggestion for which, as gourmands, we are bound to thank him)-the rather less reasonable project of bringing in a host of butterflies and moths, with all their varieties of grubs and caterpillars, to the evident detriment of all gardens, table-cloths, and old ladies. Though last, not least, we have in this number accurate reports of the four first lectures of a series now delivering by Cuvier in Paris, " On the history of the natural sciences." The first article in Dr Brewster's Journal-(by the way, it seems etiquette among our scientific brethren to commence with something light and popular, on the same principle, we presume, that fencers are bound, "tirer les honneurs," before setting-to in earnest)—the first article is an interesting account of a visit to Berzelius, the celebrated Swedish chemist, by Mr J. Johnston, which conveys a vivid and pleasing idea of his manners and appearance. This Number is strong on the subject of physical geography. There is an interesting notice of the islands Procida and Ischia, by James D. Forbes, Esq.; an account of an excursion to the Diamond District in Brazil, by MM. Martius and Spix; and “a general view of the scientific researches recently carried on in the Russian Empire," by Humboldt; in which that illustrious naturalist takes occasion, as usual, to promulgate the most comprehensive and elevated principles of scientific investigation. In the department of geology, we have an abstract of a memoir, by a French naturalist, "On the Fossil Bones of St Prival d'Allior," and upon the basaltic district in which they have been discovered; and some additions to the history of the Fossil Elk of Ireland, by Dr Hibbert. In the department of comparative anatomy, there is an outline of Dr Knox's Theory of Hermaphroditism. Perhaps the most striking communications, for the mere general reader, are two curious and well-authenticated instances of Spectral Illusion :-one, in which it operated on the organs of hearing as well as of sightanother, in which nothing but the fulfilment of the augury was a-wanting, in order to entitle it to rank among the examples of the second-sight. Simple as its details are, this latter is the most puzzling case of spectral illusion that we have met with. We must pass over in silence a great number of interesting experiments and demonstrations, of which we could give only a bare catalogue, most tantalizing to the reader. Remarks occasioned by Mr Moore's Notices of Lord Byron's Life. THIS is a small pamphlet of eight pages, from the pen, or at least published under the sanction, of Lady Byron. We were favoured, on Monday last, with the earliest copy which reached Edinburgh, but as it has since appeared in the London, and has been thence very generally transferred to the Edinburgh and other provincial newspapers, we deem it unnecessary to do more than subjoin a brief abstract of the contents. The introductory paragraph contains a statement of Lady Byron's motives for coming before the public at all, by which it appears, that having hitherto disregarded the |