self-consecration accompanied. Another great excellence of this history is its fair and judicial tone. We feel that we reach an honest estimate of men and events. Nothing is sacrificed to prejudice of spirit or point of style. The simple facts show us that these revivals were, on the whole, wisely conducted. The missionaries were often excessively cautious, and their discipline leaned to the side of severity. The volume freely recognizes errors in the plan and conduct of the missions, inculcates the teachings of experience and the lessons of Providence. It is candid and kind, but contains a sad record of civilized iniquities drained into these Pacific Islands; presents the course of Bishop Staley and his coadjutors for the judgment of after ages; and unavoidably holds up to perpetual infamy the doings of Lieut. John Percival, of the U. S. armed schooner Dolphin; of Capt. Buckle, of the British whale-ship Daniel; of Lord George Paulet and the British Consul, Richard Charlton; and of that government that now lies prostrate under the beel of Germany; while it exhibits the magnanimous deportment of the British and American governments; of Commodores Jones and Kearney, and Rear-Admiral Thomas.

Dr. Anderson's narrative finds its fitting close in the National Jubilee, and will remain a permanent record of a wonderful phenomenon in history. While we can not, on the whole, doubt the wisdom which compressed the great mass of material into the present compass, we almost repine for more of those thrilling details with which this mission is invested; such as appear, though still abridged, in the sketches of "Bartimeus," Kaahumanu and Kapiolani.

THE APOLOGY OF AN UNBELIEVER, BY LOUIS VIARDOT. From the third French Edition. London: Trübner & Co. Pp. 77.

The motto of this singular little "apologie pro vita sua" is a sentence from Sainte Beuve: "The eternity of the world admitted, all else follows." The “all else” that follows, in this unbeliever's creed (1) is a curious compound of Deism (a purified Deism) flings at "official Christianity," fatalism, dogmas respecting the impossibility of creation, the uselessness of the hypothesis of a God, the necessary existence of matter, a la Buchner, etc., the developments of planets from gas, the "auto-creation" of Darwinianism, the substitution of natural laws for Providence, the determination of human volitions by circumstances, the natural origin of all religions, the fiction of a God the work of man, the identification of thought and mind with the phenomena and properties of brain or nerve, the denial of any mental distinction between man and brute, the utter lack of all certain knowledge of the soul or its destiny, and the limit of wisdom as consisting in living for this world. Facts which go to show that brain is the instrument of mind, and its conditions related to mind vigor, are adduced in proof of the identity of the two. Physiology is trumpeted as the great and infallible teacher of psychology. Oxygen is set forth as the mother of " the cerebral faculties." Man is affirmed to have existed in England 264,000 years ago. The intuitive concepts and beliefs are ignored. The body, in its indes

tructible (not merely undestroyed) material elements, is made superior to the mind, which is resolved into one of its functions. The notion of immortality is declared to be unnatural. Annihilation, it is more than hinted, is the ultimate good. "We are on the earth, let us cease aspiring to heaven"-" a word devoid of meaning." The assertion is ventured that the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament did not expect a life to come, never mentioned it, had never heard of it. It is affirmed confidently that "science is better able than even virtue to render service to society," that virtue, indeed, is merely the child of science.

For such a "creed"—only propounded by M. Viardot—the proof ( ! ) not attempted-it would seem that an "apology" is necessary.

THE LIFE ON ARTHUR TAPPAN. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1870. Pp. 482.

The world bas reason to be thankful for such a life as is here recorded. Business integrity, systematic and unremitting benevolence, consistent Christian principle, earnest love of reform, and fearlessness in discharging what he conceived to be duty, shone conspicuous in the character of Mr. Tappan. The story of his life is simply told, in straightforward, clear unpretending style, and has much in it to move Christian feeling. The notices of earlier New England days add not a little to the interest of the narrative. One looks sharply for traces of family or fraternal partiality, but does not find them. The " compiler" evidently believed in and loved the subject of whom he wrote, but so did many others. He has brought out happily his brother's domestic and private Christian character. Not too much is said of his relation to the expansion cf benevolence among wealthy Christian men in this land. Not too highly are his truthfulness, his perseverance, his courage, and his unselfishness rated. A taciturn, undemonstrative, sometimes austere man, he had a deep, strong, rich moral nature, intense affection, tenacity and fidelity to his convictions beyond praise, and a humble trust in a Divine Redeemer that sent piety, like a vivifying element, through his whole character. He was the earnest friend of all good causes, and the laborious helper of the injured and oppressed. His biographer says well of him: "He did not see that it was his duty to withdraw himself from attending public worship because his minister and a majority of his fellow-members in the church refused to come out decidedly in opposition to slavery, and other enormities. Neither did he presume to censure those who could not conscientiously continue in such connections. At the same time when he saw how ministers of the gospel and members of the churches treated the great moral questions of the day, the people of color, and the advocates of unpopular causes, he could not but think them greatly deficient in duty and culpable in the sight of God and man. His attendance on public worship and meetings of the church

was constant."

Only one statement in the book—touching as it does on so many controverted questions and exciting movements and scenes, strikes us as asserting

too much. It is in Mr. Finney's letter in the appendix: “ Oberlin turned the scale (against slavery) in all of the North west." It is very easy to think that what is true under one's immediate observation is true everywhere; substitute Ohio for "the Northwest" and the statement is correct. But "all the Northwest" is and long has been a great region, containing multitudes, millions doubtless, who never heard of or felt the influence of any one single institution, and among whom, as workers and leaders in opposition to slavery, were multitudes of graduates of other, especially New England institutions, far outnumbering those of the particular institution named. The statement is very much like that often made about Mr. Garrison turning the scale in all the Northwest.

NEW TEXT-BOOKS ON PHYSIOLOGY. By J. C. DALTON, M.D., Prof. Coll. Phys. and Surg. New York: Harpers. 1868. By THOMAS H. HUXLEY, LL.D., F.R.S., and WM. JAY YOUMANS, M.D. Appleton & Co. 1869. By Jos. C. HUTCHISON, M.D. Clark & Maynard. 1870.

These are volumes respectively of 399, 420, and 270 pages,-clear, open type, full face headings, chapters of convenient length for teaching, admirable illustrations, and matter brought up to the last investigations and results. It would be difficult to choose between them as text-books for daily college or seminary use. They all differ from such treatises as Hooker's and Jarvis's, in not embodying practical health-directions as do these authors. Yet each has a department of Hygiene-some 120 pages in Huxley and Youmans, devoted to it, the other two authors mingling it throughout with that of Physiology, which seems to us the better method. The order of topics does not widely differ-the mechanical structure of the body and digestion and food coming early in each-circulation and respiration in the middle of each volume-and the nerve system and special senses last. Two, Dalton and Hutchison's, give a glossary, as well as index and topical questions. The illustrations in the last named (the last published also) are the finest, some of them colored with skill. The viscera in position and the circulation are thus given. This volume is also written in a pronounced religious spirit, and avoids disputed points, which are abundantly touched by Huxley and Youmans, especially those arising from the relations of body and mind. These co authors go over most ground, and disclose most the present tendencies and drifts of physiological science. Dalton has evidently aimed to confine himself more to what is scientifically established; and Hutchison to what most needs to be taught in seminaries of learning. A glance at either of these volumes in comparison with Cutler's, Hooker's and Jarvis's, shows how physiology progresses, and that there is some progress in the art of making text-books, one of the recondite and difficult arts of modern life.

The study of physiology is of growing importance in itself, and in its bearings on some of the subtlest philosophical errors of our age. The writings of the physiological psychologists-to coin a self contradictory designation-ought alone to be sufficient to set religious authors and teach

ers, and especially students for the ministry, upon investigations in this direction far more extended and discriminating than heretofore. A world of confused thought and teaching has been the product of a class of writers who were listened to because they were thought to know the secrets of the human mechanism better than more exact and correct teachers. It is well to know the matter-side of humanity, as well as the mind-side, in order to meet those who confounded matter and mind.

A TEXT BOOK OF ELEMENTARY CHEMISTRY. THEORETICAL AND INORGANIC, BY GEO. F. BARKER, M. D., Prof. Phys. Chem., Yale College. New Haven: Chas. C. Chatfield & Co. 1870. Pp. 342.

New

YOUMANS' NEW CHEMISTRY. A Class Book of the latest facts and principles, applied to the arts of life and the phenomena of nature. York and London: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 462.

Such volumes as these are land-marks in the progress of science and of scientific instruction. They fairly sustain the affirmation that "instead of being a heterogeneous collection of facts, chemistry has now become a true science, based upon a sound philosophy." Prof. Youmans' work is a revision of one published a year ago. He says: "The past ten years have been remarkably fruitful in new facts and principles bearing upon Chemistry." Prof. Barker remarks that as to names and formulas, the science is but returning to principles long ago established by Berzelius; and the real revolution is a deeper one, entirely altering the aspect of the science. The changes made"-nothing could be better than his terse and clear account"have had their origin in the discovery, first, that each element has a fixed and definite combining power, or equivalence; and second, that in a chemical compound, the arrangement of the atoms is of quite as much importance as their kind or number. The division of the elements into groups, according to the law of equivalence, necessitated a revision, and, in some cases, an alteration, of their atomic weights; while, in obedience to the second law, molecular formulas were reconstructed so as to express this atomic arrangement." The two books are not co-extensive in their range. Prof. Barker, whose eminence among the younger men of science as a physiological chemist is well known, has made an elementary introduction in part to his own specialty, covering the ground (1) of Theoretical, (2) of Inorganic Chemistry. The plan is new and speaks well for his own instruction at Yale. It furnishes a superior drill in chemical notation. Prof. Youmans adds (3) Organic Chemistry and (4) Physiological Chemistry. Each author treats the science as an organon of intellectual culture more than as a body of knowledge. The general scheme of Youmans is logically developed; (1) uatural forces affecting matter; (2) changes in organic bodies; (3) in the organic kingdom; (4) in the world of life. But looking to the two divisions treated by both, the advantage in rigid scientific treatment--though both accept the new views-lies with Prof. Barker. More novel matter, as well as more matter is found in Youmans. Barker bas aimed to make a scientifically elementary hand-book. The comparison of

titles in Inorganic Chemistry shows this; those of Youmans are Atmospheric Elements, and Properties, and Illumination, the Halogens or Salt Formers, the Pyrogens or Fire Producers, the Hyalogens or Glass Formers, the Metallic Elements, Metals which decompose water at ordinary and at red heat, Metals which do not decompose it. Those of Barker are Hydrogen, Negative Monads, Negative Dyads, Negative Triads, Boron, Negative Tetrads, the Iron Group, Positive Tetrads, Positive Triads, Positive Dyads, Positive Monads. The arrangement is electro-chemical, and its scientific advantages are seen at a glance. Not only the powers of perception and memory, but those of reasoning also, Prof. B. claims are developed by the science in its present form. It is to be hoped that his absence in Germany will yield as one result a treatment of organic chemistry as compact, clear, orderly, and logical. Youmans aims to give a wider view of the science as "an unfolding of the great laws of nature around and within us," i. e., of physical nature. The illustrations in both are excellent; those in Barker's especially so; and the typography, paper, paging, and binding attractive and handsome. The connections of chemistry with natural philosophy on the one hand, and the arts of life on the other, are brought into view by Youmans, and his book is an interesting connecting link between the new chemistry with its manifold and wondrous applications, and the old. Either author would entice one who remembers the dreary aspect of his college "Turner" to go into the study anew. The introduction of Youmans, on the “Origin and Nature of Scientific Knowledge," tempts us into a line of criticism and exposition for which we need more room than we can now command.

UNIVERSITY SERIES:-No. 1. Huxley's Physical Basis of Life. No. 2. Barker on Correlation of Vital and Physical Forces. No 3. Stirling's Reply to Huxley's Physical Basis, etc. No. 4, Cope on the Hypothesis of Evolution, Physical and Metaphysical. New Haven: C. C. Chatfield & Co. Pp. 35, 36, 71, 71.

Such discussions and speculations in science and subjects "adjacent thereto," as will find place in this series, all thinkers who aim to keep up at all with correct physical and metaphysical theories, and the history of thought will want. The form is convenient, neat and cheap. A "handy volume" series will grow out of it in due time. The publisher's selections promise to be impartial; at least he gives a good supply of bane and antidote in Huxley and Stirling. The first and fourth numbers are specimens of the new style of "lay sermons," i. e., scientific expositions delivered in Great Britain and America on Sunday. We can not testify that they "minister to edification;" but the publisher's enterprise in reproducing them for study and scrutiny is very commendable.

NATURE'S ARISTOCRACY; OR, BATTLES AND WOUNDS IN TIME OF PEACE. A Plea for the Oppressed. By Miss JENNIE COLLINS. Boston: Lee & Shepard. New York: Lee, Shepard & Dillingham. Pp. 322. 12 mo.

A vehement remonstrance in behalf of the poor and suffering classes of society,-beggars, news-boys and boot-blacks, shop-girls, journey men