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

THE QUi..4..RTERLIES

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 Natural Philosophy. Un-
fathomable mysteries—mysteries that baffle the
apprehension of the most astute investigators--
masteries 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 01.
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 knout'
of "comets," or psychologists of " life," or botanist!!
of "germination," or physiologists of "parturition,
or anatomnts of the " spleen. ' About the chain
and interest of this eminently graceful and attract'
tive treatise upon "Sight," in the IVorth 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 10".
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 ith perusal no ordinary amount
of either information or entertainment. Basides
the contribution for the 'Resent quarter, the eon'
tribution par excellence, by reason, as we have
_already intimated, of its blended elegance, 'wolf
ing, and originality, there are seven other paper
of various merit, making up the aggregate contents
i,
of the November number (the 51st) of the North
British. An appreciative criticism upon "14
Works of Dr. Chalmers," A survey through the
eye eye of Froude of "The Times of Henry V 11,40
A consideration of the rights and duties of
Workmen of Europe." A review of " Remusat.e.
Bolingbroke." An estimate under the collect/a
heading of " Religious Novels," of " Loss It.
Gain," of "The Daisy Chain," and of that ralle.A.
talked of Tale for the Times—" Perversion.',
general view of " Edinburgh Lawyers," in partiolso
lar relation to " Cockburn's Memorials." And'a
,
the political article of the number—a chapter l_
reference to Spain, with especial allusion of course
csii
to'that sanguinary coup d'etat of O'Donnell,
ended in the resumption by Narvaez of the sn'°"'
and the fasces of a Dictator./