The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-02 00:00:00

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.

This number. contains a judicious and impar-
tial , review of the new tenets of the Oxford
monks. With the 'conclusion we entirely con-
cur. " We repeat it as our conviction," says the
Writer, ".!liat lithe sect whose principles are in-
culcated in theSe volumes (The Life and Ponti-
ficate of taregory,Nll., by John W. Bowden)
Were only powerful enough to do it after its own
heart, it would soon - put a complete end to all
liberty and all religion ; in the place of the
former it would substitute the tyranny of feudal
Churchnien, and in the place of the latter the
illusionst‘of a frivolous and degrading supersti-
tion." The same gOod sense pervades an article
on Temilerance Societies. The writer is no ad-
vocate of' the extravagant excess to which tea-
totalism is carried on in this country, and justly
regards it as a sin to reject the moderate use of
the good things which the Creator has provided
for man. In commenting on a book written, by
Dr. Thomson " on Digestion" he quotes the
foilowingTaragrapk:—
Suppo6e.a hundred individuals were to live on whole-
Some food, and abstain from all alchoholic fluids ; and
4uPpose another hundred, ceteris paribus, were to use.
Stimulating drink, which of the two sets should vve
anticipate-la. be most healthy at the end of a given
pOMed ? 'We do not believe that there would be two
"Pinions on the subject.
1)*. Thomson's incredulity is unreasonable. Most as-
,sliredly there would be two opinions ; and not a few
:" uld be found holding that opinion which Dr. Thom-
rel,7lpudiates. We confess ourselves to be among the
number ; and earnestly do we desire that the question
Wu_u_ Id be. carefully brought to'the test of experiment.
lower two hundred men, living in the same place, fol-
., Ing the same employment,- of the same age, and in
tx,,uoil state of: health, to be chosen and divided into
0012;ompanies, one-half of -them takMg notking
amid tlie.other half 11.11110derate quantity 'of pure

%sine daily, we should, with much confidence, expect
the balance of health and longevity to be in favour of
the latter ' • and the mow numerous and carefully col-
ected the data from which the decision was obtained,
the stronger should we expect that decision to be in
favour of temperate use of the fruit of the vine. In-
asmuch as God, who knows us altogether, has repre-
sented wine as a great blessing, we cannot but think
that its use is conducive to the improvement of both
body and soul

ALEXANDER'S EAST
_INDIA AND COLO-

NIAL MAGAZINE.

A somewhat intolerant article, entitled " Re-
sponsibility for the Government of India," leads
the van of this month's papers. It assails the
Court of Directors of the East India Company,
and complains of the flagrant enormities com-
mitted under their arbitrary rule, and their al-
most total irresponsibility to the head govern-
ment of Great Britain, concluding with an opi-
nion of Lord William Bentinck's corroboration
of these views. The common assumption that
Herat as a defensive frontier is impregnable, and
the " Key of the East " is next combated, where-
in the writer, apparently a military tactician,
endeavours to show the fallacy of this position.
Sedulous search is made by Lieutenant-Colonel
PogSon to discover the lost tribes of Israel in
Nepali], Cabool, Delhi, &c., in the persons of the
Brahmins themselves, alleging their descent
from Abraham quasi dicers a Brahmo. Many ety-'
mologies are less cogent, and many an hypo-
thesis less tenable. " Moral and physical influ-
ence of Climate," goes to prove that the very at-
mosphere exercises an action on the sensations,
and that climate wonderfully influences the
mental powers, and the absolute intellect. In
confirmation of this the writer remarks :
I have just spoken of the influence of the confined
air of the Swiss values on health—it is yet more re-
markable on mind. In the lowest tracts of the valley
(if it be closely shut in), one-fifth of the inhabitants
are idiots. 300 feet up, the peasant is weak in the in-
tellect, but idiotism rare—a little higher, he is a boor of
ordinary capacity-3,000 feet up, he is peculiarly and
strikingly intelligent—keen in his eye, firm inlis foot,
healthy in his aspect, and powerful in intellect. In an,
cient times there was a similar difference between the
Boetians and Athenians—the sluggish and unimagina-
tive mind of` the one being exactly what we should haw
expected from their breathing the air of bogs, marshes,
and low land, while the mental glory and restless actif
vity of the Athenian corresponded with the splendour
and purity of the air of Athens."
" The language of the Chinese" .deters us by
its very titlefroTu further acquaintance, for we
should utterly despair of ever mastering its bare
214 Radicals, much less their thousand inexpli-
cabilities and combinations. " The Transmigra-
tion of Souls" evinces that there is a split among
the Brahmins on this article of belief, so that by
reason of this division it may be piously hoped
that we may yet see with gladness the souls of
the Hindoo and Mahornetan, really and in effect
transmigrating into the body of the true Chris-
tian. " Rough notes of a military trip in the
Murree Hil!s " by some British troops is full of
Belochee spies, gun-shots, and skirmishes, but
ends in the singular capture of three Banyan
donkies.