irresistably moved with wonder at the variety and greatness of intellectual power. Yet notwithstanding our apprehension of its excellence, we see it only in a deteriorated and infant state. Equally with our animal economy, it has become infirm and imbecile, compared with its original condition, by the entrance of moral evil. Nor is it difficult to explain how, in a future world, our capabilities of thought may as far surpass what they are at present, as the most matured understanding here transcends the feeble stirrings and narrow sphere of a child's musings. No person has fully developed all the resources of mind placed at his command during his earthly sojourn. In the majority of mankind it is nearly dormant, or is frittered away on objects so trifling and insignificant as afford altogether inadequate scope for its exercise. Even of those individuals who have been revered as prodigies of intellectual attainment, it may be assumed that the tenor of their way, though exalted on mountain height above the remainder of their species busied in the vale below, was far beneath the vicinity to a celestial sphere they might have gained; for we believe there never was a mind which, in the pursuit and application of knowledge, was not impeded by some obstacle, whose possessor had sufficient energy and constancy of will to put forth its whole ability, to which every advantage for improvement was afforded, which was warped by no prejudice or predilection, and which had all the fields of investigation it could occupy open to its entrance. Such a mind must remain a desideratum till we reach that state where all is perfect and all is pure-where we shall enjoy the consummation of our being in the vision and likeness of God.

By some fatality or other, few objects deserving attention have received less than the science of mind. As in other courses of induction the thoughts must be applied to ascertain facts, which, moreover, in this case come not under the notice of our external senses, but are connected with an invisible and immaterial subsistence, of whose being and actings we are apprized only by the consciousness of what passes within ourselves. Progress in this branch of knowledge must be made chiefly by close and constant reflective investigation, to which nothing can be more opposed than the indolence and levity of the far greater portion of mankind. It may be observed also, that public opinion is adverse to these studies.Their utility is not appreciated, and even their expediency or allowableness is doubted. Nothing is more common than to brand them as metaphysical-a term of such ghostly though undefined import with many persons, that, without waiting to ascertain its meaning or the propriety of its application, the bare mention of it is sufficient to excite alarm as intending what is incomprehensible or even dangerous to approach. With some well-meaning but ill-informed Christians, much nervous suspicion is felt in regard to intellectual science, supposing it closely allied to that "philosophy and vain deceit" by which the Gospel was once perverteda supposition, we scarcely need record, altogether without foundation. Further, the want of a concise and popular elementary work upon the subject is much to be regretted. The science is indeed itself recent, as pursued upon the inductive method. It has only lately emerged from the mysticism of scholastic dogmas and disquisitions concerning the origin, essence, and modes of intellectual existence, matters altogether beyond our reach, of which we can know nothing, whatever hypothesis we may form, and the consideration of which, though it may amuse, can lead to no valuable result. Its advocates have hitherto been chiefly employed in exposing the errors of ancient theories, and in pointing out the true objects and mode of inquiry. The modern works of Reid, Stewart, and Brown,

are comparatively little known; they are perhaps too extended and conplicated in their discussions to take with persons not already accustomed to philosophical thinking; and their illustrations and style abound with references familiar only to those who have been well trained in scientific and literary pursuits. A volume is required which, with a clear and simple analysis of our intellectual functions, should explain the important purposes such knowledge would serve in the every day business of common life. Were the subject thus put within the reach of the community at large, in a form sufficiently attractive to engage attention, its influence would, we are confident, be most powerful and salutary. Yet, finally, we suspect that the spirit and circumstances of the present times are on the whole not friendly to these studies. Ours seems to be the age of inquiry further than reflection, of memory than of genius, of wide and various information than of powerful and splendid originality. We concede that "mind is marching" at a pace, and to an extent which promises that it shall ere long have traversed every accessible range of thought; but we doubt whether it retains vigour corresponding with its progress.— It has sometimes occurred to us whether the acquisition of knowledge may not become too facile-whether the feast of information laid before the public, being so varied and abundant in its dainties, and served up in modes so tempting to the palate, may not occasion some to cat too fast and to take more than they can well digest, whereby their mental energies are impaired rather than improved. It should never be forgotten that exercise is as requisite to health as food, and that the latter is useful only as it imparts strength. In attempting to account for what appears to us a diminution of that commanding, we may say gigantic power, which the leading minds of Britain displayed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we have suspected one cause to be the difficulties they had to work through in obtaining knowledge, demanding proportioned persevering toil, which laborious process brought into play a greater amount of talent, and induced a habit of vigorous and capacious thinking that became to its possessors a second nature. Men have now to receive stores of wisdom laid ready to their hand, without the trouble and fatigue of digging in the mine to procure the precious metal. Knowledge is far more abundant, but mind is less matured. Information is presented of all kinds, in every imaginable form, and adapted in the mode of communication to all varieties of taste. Were the faculties of reflection and judgment called into exercise as fully as the attention, the memory, and the imagination, ordinary men now would equal, if not excel, the ablest of former times.— But, paradoxical as it may seem, there is so much to learn, and it is acquired with such facility, that there is little time or occasion for thought; and studies which call for severe abstract investigation are generally passed by unheeded.

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It will, however, be admitted, that whatever faculties our Creator has bestowed upon us, it is our duty to improve them to the utmost. allow them to remain unexercised incurs the guilt and exposes to the doom of the "wicked and slothful servant" who hid his talent. in a napkin. If our powers are not developed and matured, we shall not rise to our proper sphere in the scale of existence- -we shall not answer the obligations and ends of our being-we shall not render that amount of homage to God or benefit to our fellow men which is due. Now the study of mental philosophy, were it thoroughly pursued, would be of incalculable advantage in regulating and strengthening the mind itself. It would subdue the pas

sions, control the imagination, check credulity, and suppress a fondness for what is merely superficial. Its tendency would be to form a character that is substantial rather than showy, and to encourage those habits of close and accurate thinking which are so requisite to intellectual superiority, and the successful prosecution of inquiries after truth. Lest any persons should construe our remarks in the close of the preceding paragraph, as implying a regret that knowledge has become so easy of access, we here altogether disclaim such an intention. We rejoice in the increased facilities of information afforded to every class of the community, as what, under the blessing of Divine Providence, and in conjunction with the spread of religious truth, may rescue the public mind from that darkness and degradation under which it has so long groaned. But we referred to it as a good, the abuse of which, through our indolence and degeneracy, partly accounted for a fact which is deeply to be deplored, and we advert to it again in order to suggest an important remedy and counteractive for that abuse. The ordinary course of education has been too exclusively directed to the acquisition of words, and rules, and exterior accomplishments, while little or no attention has been paid to call forth and mature the intellect. All effort has been lavished on making youth acquire, and none has been devoted to train them in reasoning upon, and applying the materials with which the memory is stored. This may accord with the negligence or incapacity of teachers, but it surely involves a serious defalcation of duty. As Mr. Dugald Stewart observes, "The most essential objects of education are the two following:-First, to cultivate all the varied principles of our nature, both speculative and active, in such a manner as to bring them to the greatest perfection of which they are susceptible; and, secondly, by watching over the impressions and associations which the mind receives in early life, to secure it against the influence of prevailing errors; and, as far as possible, to engage its prepossessions on the side of truth." And he justly adds, And he justly adds, "It is only upon a philosophical analysis of the mind, that a systematical plan can be founded, for the accomplishment of either of these purposes."* For the same reason an acquaintance with the science is important to those who are engaged in impressing the great truths and duties of revelation upon others; and it would surely be for the honour and furtherance of Christianity, if discourses from the pulpit were more calculated than they frequently are, to inform the understanding, and engage the judgment as well as the heart in behalf of piety. Certainly no subjects afford such scope for the development of mind as the doctrines of religion. Here is more of sublimity and glory than the noblest created beings can comprehend! And the desire of knowing as much as, in this region of ignorance, can be known of that love "which passeth knowledge," ought to operate as a powerful motive to encourage the cultivation of a vigorous and well-regulated intellect in all who study the oracles of God. Do we not anticipate a high advance in mental improvement as conducing to those inconceivably exalted measures of joy and holiness which we hope for in immortality? and would it not be the case here, that in proportion as our minds were freed from narrowness, imbecility, and prejudice, greater degrees of godliness might be acquired, so that its consolations would be felt, and its influence de exhibited, to an extent which at present we cannot calculate?

Philosophy of the Human Mind, Vol. I. p. 20.

But we must refrain from further speculation, and invite the reader's attention to the volume before us. Doctor Abercrombie divides his work into five parts. After an introduction on the General Objects of Science, he proceeds to discuss the Nature and Extent of our Knowledge of Mind. On this subject he judiciously observes,

"The mind is that part of our being which thinks and wills-remembers and reasons; we know nothing of it except from these functions. By means of the corporeal senses, it holds intercourse with the things of the external world, and receives impressions from them. But of this connexion also we know nothing but the facts; when we attempt to speculate upon its nature and cause, we wander at once from the path of philosophical inquiry, into conjectures which are as far beyond the proper sphere, as they are beyond the reach of the human faculties. The object of true science on such a subject, therefore, is simply to investigate the facts, or the relations of phenomena, respecting the operations of mind itself, and the intercourse it carries on with the things of the external world." p. p. 24, 25.

In opposition to the modification of materialism now prevalent in modern times, by which mind is considered as a result of organization, or in other words, a function of the brain; and upon which has been founded the conclusion, that, like our bodily senses, it will cease to be when the bodily frame is dissolved. We have the following argument :

"The brain, it is true, is the centre of that influence on which depend sensation and motion. There is a remarkable connexion between this organ and the manifestations of mind; and by various diseases of the brain, these manifestations are often modified, impaired, or suspended. We shall afterwards see that these results are very far from being uniform; but even if they were uniform, the facts would warrant no other conclusion than that the brain is the organ of communication between the mind and the external world. When the materialist advances a single step beyond this, he plunges at once into conclusions which are entirely gratuitous and unwarranted. We rest nothing more upon this argument, than that these conclusions are unwarranted; but we might go farther than this, and contend, that the presumption is clearly on the other side, when we consider the broad and obvious distinction which exists between the peculiar phenomena of mind, and those functions which are exercised through the means of bodily organization. They do not admit of being brought into comparison, and have nothing in common. The most exquisite of our bodily senses are entirely dependant for their exercise upon impressions from exterual things. We see not without the presence both of light and a body reflecting it; and if we could suppose light to be annihilated, though the eye were to retain its perfect condition, sight would be extinguished. But mind owns no such dependence on external things, except in the origiu of its knowledge in regard to them. When this knowledge has once been acquired, it is retained and recalled at pleasure; and mind exercises its various functions without any dependance upon impressions from the external world. That which has long ceased to exist, is still distinctly before it; or is recalled, after having been long forgotten, in a manner even still more wonderful; and scenes, deeds, or beings, which never existed, are called up in long and harmonious succession, invested with all the characters of truth, and all the vividness of present existence. The mind remembers, conceives, combines, and reasons: it loves, and fears, and hopes, in the total absence of any impression from without, that can influence in the smallest degree, these emotions; and we have the fullest conviction that it would continue to exercise the same functions in undiminished activity, though all material things

were at once annihilated.

"This argument, indeed, may be considered as only negative, but this is all that the subject admits of. For, when we endeavour to speculate directly on the essence of mind, we are immediately lost in perplexity, in consequence of our total ignorance of the sub

ject, and the use of terms borrowed from analogies with material things. Hence the unsatisfactory nature of every physiological or metaphysical argument respecting the essence of mind, arising entirely from the attempt to reason the subject in a manner of which it is not susceptible. It admits not of any ordinary process of logic, for the facts on which it rests are the objects of consciousness only; and the argument must consist in an appeal to the consciousness of every man, that he feels a power within totally distinct from any function of the body. What other conception than this can he form of that power by which he recalls the past, and provides for the future; by which he ranges uncontrolled from world to world, and from system to system; surveys the works of all · creating power, and rises to the contemplation of the eternal cause? To what function of matter shall he liken that principle, by which he loves and fears, and joys and sorrows; by which he is elevated with hope, excited by enthusiasm, or sunk in the horrors of despair? These changes also he feels, in many instances, to be equally independent of impressions from without, and of the condition of his bodily frame. In the most peaceful state of every corporeal function, passion, remorse, or anguish, may rage within; and, while the body is racked by the most frightful diseases, the mind may repose in tranquillity and hope. He is taught by physiology, that every part of his body is in a constant state of change, and that, within a certain period, every particle of it is renewed. But, amid these changes, he feels that the being whom he calls himself remains essentially the same. In particular, his remembrance of the occurrences of his early days, he feels to be totally inconsistent with the idea of an impression made upon a material organ, except he has recourse to the absurdity of supposing that one series of particles, as they departed, transferred the picture to those which came to occupy their

room.

"If the being then, which we call mind or soul, be to the utmost extent of our know. ledge, thus dissimilar to, and distinct from any thing that we know to be a result of bodily organization, what reason have we to believe that it should be affected by any change in the arrangement of material organs, except in so far as relates to its intercourse with this external world? The effects of that change, which we call the death of an animal body, are nothing more than a change in the arrangement of its constituent elements; for it can be demonstrated on the strictest principles of chemistry, that not one particle of these elements ceases to exist. We have, in fact, no conception of annihilation; and our whole experience is opposed to the belief of one atom that ever existed, having ceased to exist. There is therefore, as Dr. Brown has well remarked, in the very decay of the body, an analogy which would seem to indicate the continued existence of the thinking principle, since that which we term decay, is itself only another name for continued existence. To conceive then, that anything mental ceases to exist after death, when we know that every thing corporeal continues to exist, is a gratuitous assumption, contrary to every rule of philosophical inquiry, and in direct opposition, not only to all the facts relating to mind itself, but even to the analogy which is furnished by the dissolution of the bodily frame." p. p. 31-35.

Nothing could be penned more conclusive than these statements, in proof that mind is a substance altogether diverse from matter. We are not quite sure, however, but that some will think our Author carries the argument from analogy rather too far in the last paragraph, when he would infer the immortality of mind from the indestructibility of matter. All animated beings possess some modification of intelligence. Many brutes can remember, meditate, plan, with admirable accuracy and skill. These indications cannot be merely an organization of matter. Are we, therefore, to believe that brutes are endowed with immortality? Besides, if a change took place in the human mind equal to that produced on the body by death, although the general stamina (if we may use the term) remained, all consciousness and personal identity would cease. Indeed, we think the question of the soul's immortality belongs to the theologian