The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-10 00:00:00

11'1-1.0 QUAIITERLIE6,

The North British Review. No. LL—Decidedly
the most elegant, the most instructive, and the
most original contribution we have seen for many
a long day in the Quarterlies is the one adorning
this November number of the North British, Re-
view, in relation to the exquisite and marvellous
Science of Optics. "Sight, and how to See," is
its title—the title of a paper evidently penned not
merely by a master of the beautiful subject of
which it treats, but by one who has entered upon
its examination with a reverent sense of the myste-
ries impenetrable to mortal ken—those awful and
affecting attestations of a Power beyond the reach
of human comprehension—attestations of that Su-
preme Power meeting us, in an inscrutable aspect,
at every turn in the manifold mazes of the grand
and intricate labyrinth of NaturalPhilosopby. Un-
fathomable mysteries--mysteries that baffle the
apprehension of the most astute investigators—
my steries leaving the greatest sages of whom the
world has record standing bewildered and awe-
stricken, as Newton humbly acknowledged him-
self to be—like a child picking up shells and
pebbles upon the Shores of the great Ocean
of Truth ! Such incomprehensible mysteries,
for example, as the spleen is to the anatomist—as
parturition is to the physiologist—as germination,
is to the botanist—as life is to the pyschologist—
as comets are to the astronomer. Precisely one of
these inscrutable and ineffable mysteries is the
retina to the optician—that innermost core and
ultimate channel of vision, of the nature of which
opticians know just as little as astronomers know
of " comets," or psychologists of " life," or botanists
of "germination," or physiologists of "parturition."
,or anatomists of the "spleen." About the charm
and interest of this eminently graceful and attrac-
tive treatise upon "Sight," in the North British,
we should, had we either space or leisure for so
doing, be tempted to dilate at some length
to our heart's content, and as we doubt not
it would prove also to our reader's satisfaction.
As it is, we are perforce driven to the other branch
of the alternative—that of briefly but earnestly
commending the attention of the; curious to the
article itself in its original entirety—promising
them through its perusal no ordinary amount
of either information or entertainment. Besides
the contribution for the present quarter, the con-
tribution par excellence, by reason, as we have
already intimated, of its blended elegance, learn-
ing, and originality, there are seven other papers
of various merit, making up the aggregate contents
of the November number (the 51st) of the North
British. An appreciative criticism upon "The
Works of Dr. Chalmers," A survey through the
eye of Fronde of "The Times < f Henry VIII.',
A consideration of the rights and duties of " The
Workmen of Europe." A review of " Remusat on
Bolingbroke." An estimate under the collective
heading of " Religious Novels," of " Loss and
Gain," of " The Daisy Chain," and of that much-
talked of Tale for the Times—" Perversion." A
general view of " Edinburgh Lawyers," in particu-
lar relation to " Cock burn's Memorials." And—e
the political article of the number—a chapter in
reference to Spain, with especial allusion of course
to thatsanguinary coup d'etat of O'Donnell, which
ended in the resumption by Narvaez of the sword
and the fasces of a Dictator.