Contemporary Literature [pp. 395-424]

414 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE. [April,
low true desires." "Good people shine from afar like the snowy mountains;
bad people are not seen, like arrows shot by night."
Mediahon. The Function of Thought. Andover: W. F. Draper.
The author states (on p. io): "I think that the following lines of observation will show the base that exists in the normal constitution of humanity for the doctrine of Mediation; and also that this base is as wide and
universal as the whole scope of human thought." It is very true that
thought to a certain extent mediates between subject and object. It is
also true, that there must be some mode of mediating between God and
man. But we do not see how the functions of thought can carry us beyond these very general and abstract positions, -positions, too, that in a
philosophical sense would be admitted by those who deny a complete and
final mediation in the Person of the Redeemer. Still-this volume is only
a middle chapter of a larger work, and can hardly be judged by itself. It
is the product of a thoughtful mind, and contains many valuable and suggestive speculations on incidental points of psychology and metaphysics,
sometimes finely conceived and expressed. The relation of the animal to
the human intelligence is particularly well developed.
Ph~sioiog~ of the Soul and histiuct as Distingni&h ed fro;n Materialism. With Supplementary Demonstrations of the Divine Communication of the Narratives of Creation and the Flood. By MARTIN PAYNE,
LL.D. New York: Harpers. The learned author, as the title page
informs us, has already evinced great fertility in authorship, having published several volumes on medicine, science and philosophy. Indeed the
present massive octavo of over 6oo pages is a sort of combination and development of two previous volumes, the one on the " Soul and Instinct,"
and the other on "Theoretical Geology." The book is very largely a
labored and earnest protest against Materialism, especially in its more
recent forms, as supported by the correlation and conservation of forces,
carried to the extreme of identifying in one the chemical, vital and psych- ical forces. Dr. Payne adduces many cogent proofs of the immatenality of the soul. He maintains, against the general drift of modern geologists, the literal interpretation of the biblical account of the Creation
and the Deluge. He holds that day in Genesis i. means twenty-four
hours, and no more. This volume is bulky, learned, and a perfect thesaurus of quotations from a vast range of authors on the subjects discussed.
But it is too diffuse, rambling and egotistical. It lacks a compact, continuous organic development. In abounds in valuable materials; but they
are in a state too crude and undigested.
Logical Pra~is; Comprising a Summary of the Principles of Logical
Science, and Copious Exercises for Practical Application. By HENRY N.
DAY. New Haven: Chatfield & Co. In this little volume Prof. Day
has done a very needful work, in reducing his previous volume on Logic
to a form far better fitted to the purposes of a)class-room. He is always