National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-06-24
A NEW PUBLICATION.

PC. Cheeks sends us The Problem of
Human Life Here and Hereafter" containing re-
views of Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel, Tyndall,
Helmholtz, and Mayer, and embracing Evolu-
ton of Sound" Evolution Evolved" &c. By
MILFORD. Crown 8 vo.; 527 pp New York: Hall &
| Co., publishers 234 Broadway.
1t is seldom reviewers attention is called to so
| important work as this. 1t is work of unique
arrangement and scope, and the questions dis
| cussed are of the present time, and amounting,
many of them at least, to positive discoveries OF
exciting moment to the scientific world. Espe-
cially is this of the novel hypothesis of sound
as consisting of corpuscular emissions, in opposi-
ton to the present accepted theory of atmospheric
! wRve-motion. eff sound" lie insists, "can be
clearly shown to be some kind of substance, how
ever tenuous then the most carping atheist neeo
not object to the entitative existence OF per-
sonal God, nor the most radical mater1allst deny
the substantial entity of the human soul distinct
from corporal organism, on the ground that they
are beyond the recognition of our senses.
The author assumes as pivotal proposition,
around which much of his subsequent reasoning
clusters that the life and mental powers of all iy-
ing creatures, including man, are demonstrabIy
substantial entites-partS of an interior and inVls-
ible organism consisting of real substance and OF
which the outer or corporal structure is but the
tangible or visible counterpart To strengthen
this hypothesis and prepare the reader for the ac-
ceptance of such broad principle in psychologist
physiology he assumes the collateral position that
all the natural forces or socalled modes of motion,
such as gravitation, magnetism, electricity,
light, heat, and even sound are constituted
of substantial corpuscles emanating from
their respective sources, and argues with force
that, although infinitely attenuated, their effects
on our senses or on insensuous physical bodies
can only be caused by some sort of substantial
hat
effects can result from wave-motion, whether Of
air, ether, or any other hypothetic substance
Turning from this subject, which is in itself
curiosity in the line of scientific augmentation,
we glance at the demonstrative character of the
evidence in favor of his pivotal hypothesis. The
author quotes Mr. Darwin's statement where he
declares in support of evolution that every spe
cies of animals including man, is originally de-
veloped from an ovule but the one hundred
and twenty-fifth of inch in diameter,
and that 1.-The ovule of the man differs in
no respect from that of the horse" The author
then turns this admission directly against the ply
steal theory of natural selection by showing that if
these corporal and tangible oyues of the various
animal species differ in no respect" it is clear
that within each of them at the commencement of
being there must exist invisible and substantial
organism constituting the actual difference which
we know does exist otherwise there is no reason
which can be given by the purely physical theory
of evolution why an elephant should not, by mere
chance, breed tiger, or a COW accidently give
birth to kittens, since their oyules differ in
spect." Hence the author maintains, and with
great deal of force, that the only assumption
which throws any possible light on this question
of development of so many animals of varied
forms from ovules differing, physically " in no
respect must be the one involved in his broad
and demonstrated hypothesis. that within each
ovule, after the formulating impulse takes place,
there exists substantial but ncorporal life germ
organized with form corresponding in all re-
spectS TO that of the parent species when fully de-
veloped. This book is one of the most revolution
airy in its onslaughts upon one of the best estab-
lished theories of the times, and the opinions of
physicists as to the real weight of the arguments
employed will be watched with intense interest
by every scientific reader.