The weekly pioneer and Democrat., 1861-05-17

to be revenged on Langdon, impelled by
such envenomed instincts, anything rather
than that "pious, tract-like end" in strange
antagonism with her life.
Here the other writers have enumerat-
ed would have been transcendent; but DR..
Holmes is too much of the somatist, and his
imagination has no such aptitude. He de.
scribes with fine didactic power what he
sees and knows; and having stated a
probable theory in mental ethics, be leaves
his exemDlifVinG subject where no physician
can avail Beyond the startling portrai>
ture of Elsie there is scarcely any thing pos
itively remarkable in the book, and it ia
full of rather wearisome incongruities, in
scenes and characters. The imagination is
constantly let down, and can scarcely fancy
such tropical existence as Elsie indigo
nous to New England, and in the school of
Silas Peckham. The story is continued
series of printed contrasts, evincing SUPER
lative excellence in the delineation--but the
graphic portraits, and specific characteris-
tics OF ordinary Yankees do not heighten
the interest of Elsies wild life. There is a
serious dissatisfaction yet to be mentioned,
in conclusion. The way in which the Pro.
lessor disposes of the problems of human
-'fate, free-will,' etc., which have per-
picked the Doblest heads from Thomas
Aquinas to Kant and Coleridge, is really
curious, to Say the least. His pointed
staccato little sentences dispatch duties and
destinies, as neatly as a prescription for
the measles. The moral insanity doctrine,
of the responsibility of mankind with Ger.
tain inherited impulses, and organic pro-
clivities, is dangerous and debasing physi.
ology OF human conduct. 1t is the doc
trine of Socrates, that vice is insanity, and
there is no moral freedom. But cnce ad-
mitted, and what mind can keep the safe
equilibrium between true knowledge and
that thought which renders the teachings of
the New Testament vain? You remember
the almost indignant depreciation of Burns
when be tasks the Almighty with having
given him passions with lile? Au reste,
Elsie Venner, is admirably written from a
genial medical knowledge, rarely vouchsafed
US in such an attractive form. In design it
is more fearful and fascinating, and quite as
original as Frankenstein. Now, if 1 am
asked the Autocrat's forte, shall answer
in this wise That he is to the atlantic
Magazine what DR.. Maginn was to Black
sDood-not such an universal scholar and
recOndite thinker, but as vigorous and
brilliant whenever thought comes within
range of his immediate profession and ex-
perience. He excels in analytic observation
from medical stand point all his com
pariscns, illustrations and tests, are chemical
or pharmaceutical, and the stamp of his
living individuality is on all he writes
His genius therefore is best shown in a
monthly web of party-colored talk, into
which he can weave the choicest threads of
didatic grotesquerie and common sense. A
novel or romance, as it requires toning,
grouping, and continuity, mars the elasticity
and efervescence of these qualities, which
in his essays come under no rubric, and are
the Autocrat's superlative characteristics.
Sir Isaac Newton lacked power on all topics
but science and mathematics, and DR..
Holmes, too, has his speciality. ETHEL.