Do honour and humanity combine So let My wealth go back unto my country-thence In bonds in Genoa. Ah, there they lie [seeing his sons]! [Dies.]'-pp. 115, 116. We can answer for the encouragement which the simple and natural poetical spirit, so eminent in this poem, will meet in Great Britain, where, we are happy to say, a taste for artificial and meretricious attractions in poetry, too long indulged, is fast declining. We trust that the young bards of America, having discovered the source of their strength, will not neglect or misapply it. We are grateful for the attention which has led to the transmission of this work to our office, from Philadelphia. ART. XIII.-A Rationale of the Laws of Cerebral Vision: comprising the Laws of Single and of Erect Vision, deduced upon the Principles of Dioptrics. By John Fearn, Esq. 8vo. London: Longman and Co. 1830. It is not our purpose to examine the series of propositions which Mr. Fearn here lays down on the subject of vision, because they embrace details which are so purely scientific, that we could in vain expect them to awaken much interest amongst the indiscriminate classes that compose the great body of the readers of periodical publications. We may, however, observe that, with reference to that very important object, so justly insisted on by Mr. Fearn, namely, the general consummation or consistency of knowledge, or rather, the general combination of divers contributors of knowledge, he would do well to consider how far anatomy and physiology agree with his views of the laws of vision, as deduced from physics. If he will take the trouble only to observe the connection between the branches of a certain pair of nerves and the surface of the iris, he will discover a truth with respect to cerebral influence in the process of vision, which may be of some consequence to his theory. But the principal purpose for which we place the title of Mr. Fearn's book in our pages, is to once more invoke the scientific community of this country to examine into the claims of this author, and consider whether or not they have been all this time treating with merited contempt the absurdities of a presumptuous empiric, or earning both the contempt and indignation of the civilized world, in consigning to neglect the valuable speculations of a sound philosopher. If the man's data be false, let them show it -if his arguments be rotten, let their corruption be exposed,-but do not let it be said that, because his inferences are new and startling, and differ from those which you have cherished from your childhood, therefore you cannot enter into any examination of his positions. Mr. Fearn's appeal, under this discreditable apathy of scientific persons, is really affecting; and, as far as we can diffuse it, we shall be happy to wipe off from ourselves the stain of combining in this confederacy of neglect, by doing so. This author commences by addressing an appeal to the Philosophers of the French Nation,' from which we extract the following passage : 'Gentlemen,-After having passed the latter half of a life in studies, concerning which there are at least ample vouchers that I did not mistake the propensity; I find myself compelled to appeal the following Essay, from the anticipated neglect of my county, to the scientific justice of a foreign nation-the nation of Mons. de la Hire and of a constellation of philosophers of the mechanism of vision. That I am driven to this appeal, would certainly be ignominious to my intellectual pretensions, were it not a fact too well known, that the apathy of living Englishmen toward abstruse science in general has become a theme in the mouths of reflecting persons, both at home and abroad. Nor is the general apathy the sole external cause of the predicament in which I stand; since I, together with the subject, suffer rather from obstacles that form a barrier between me and the public, than from the prevailing indisposition toward such walks of research. The brief truth of the matter is (and the present limits oblige me to announce it with the utmost brevity,) a hurtful difference has subsisted between myself and a name that (owing to a combination of circumstances) is of a colossal influence in this country in those departments in which I have been occupied, and especially in the estimation of almost the whole of the arbiters of philosophical criticism among us; and this difference, consisting in a two-fold matter,-namely -of philosophical views, and of personal concern, has operated in closing up against my labours all the principal avenues of periodical notice; insomuch that it must be impossible for works of their description to reach the eye of Europe under such proscription, unless through the intervention of some fortunate accident, or extraordinary recourse.'-pp. iii. iv. After some acknowledgments of the spirit of justice and fair dealing which had been exerted in his favour by one journal, conducted by gentlemen, whose knowledge of Mr. Fearn is strictly limited to his works, the author proceeds to notice the conduct of Professor Stewart towards him. He says, 'And, as I have been thus led to mention the name of an individual who was especially characterised by moral rectitude, as well as by erudition; and one who was the avowed friend and admirer of Professor Stewart, but who nevertheless expressed his disapprobation of his procedure; I shall add, to the foregoing testimony, a single expression of Dr. Parr, in one of his letters to me, now before the public in the work referred to. In that letter, he says "If Stewart deal out a scanty portion of justice to you, leave him thus far to the disapprobation of wise and good men." 'Gentlemen. The late Professor Stewart left this world without dealing out to me, or at least without acknowledging to the PUBLIC, the smallest portion of justice. And, what is more; I must beg of you to be informed that the injustice, to which alone Dr. Parr alludes, was only upon general philosophical ground: for he, (I suppose from amicable considerations,) did not expressly speak to the personal claim in question; which last, however, was of the most vital importance in my case. In closing this statement; I would not have it understood that I am less ready, than any one, to bear acknowledgment to the intellectual merits and high general character of the late Professor Stewart. Nor, on account of the subject in question, would I have it supposed that there was any thing hostile in the conduct of our difference. The expressions of Mr. Stewart, in one of his letters to me now before the public, are indeed of a tenor highly gratifying; and such as might have been eagerly caught at by any individual, who had not staked his life to the attainment of an object incompatible with its exchange for the private friendship of any man. In fine. The matter to which I would now immediately solicit the favour of your decision is-Whether the following Essay on Vision is, or is not, in any extent, a contribution to Science. If your answer should be in the affirmative; then, I may presume, it ought to be supposed, by the reading public, that the tenor of my former labours is not altogether such as would be for the interests of mankind to neglect. And, if the present specimen should merit your unqualified censure; I shall be content, (although its Preface will explain that the matter is not my subject,) to have it supposed that my previous writings are of no better complexion. The evil to be rectified, is not merely if I am wronged of my philosophical rank or estimation in the community. For, when much has been written, there may be much to explain, or amend: And great detriment might arise to general truth from a want of such explanation. While I need not inform you how fatally life is undermined, and the power of thought itself paralysed, by the amount of obstruction against which I have had to labour.'-pp. vi., vii. In an address to Mr. Brougham, which succeeds that to the French Philosophers, our author affectingly describes the results of this melancholy neglect with respect to another branch of his important labours: and if his appeal in this instance do not awaken attention, at least his facts ought to make some impression. As far as regards my Pneumatological writings; I may be told that mine is only a common lot, in their not having been taken up in the leading vehicles of criticism. And I am so sensible of the truth of this, that I should never have made it a topic of specific complaint. But, a very different consideration urges the present appeal. The fact is that my speculations in Pneumatology have formed not any thing like the whole of my labours. And a period of no less than seven years (including intervals of borne-down health) has been occupied in the exclusive prosecution of an Analysis of Language; which now, for some time, languishes before the public, from a want of that aid which alone could bring to the notice of Europe any Philological work that diverges far from the usual track, especially when, as in my peculiar case, it is the production of an ungraduated author, and one who, more than any man, has been abstracted from the events, and the parties, which give security, or return, to literary exertion. Nor can the case be esteemed the less hard when the subject of Language, in every modification, and gradation of its treatment, is daily issuing from the press; and is deemed of sufficient importance to find effectual periodical notice. It will be said that, what I have now advanced affords no proof that the work in question is deserving of better treatment than it has received. To this I answer, first; that I pledge myself, (without any previous intimation to the parties of my intention to do so,) that the houses which publish for me have had ample testimonies, from persons strangers to me, that the tenor of the work justifies my urging its claims to consideration.—But, besides these, there is, by a fortunate accident, one public criticism extant upon the work, although it is a locked-up one; to which I may refer.— Nearly the whole of the article Philology, in the CYCLOPEDIA EDINENSIS, is occupied by an account of its first volume, the second not having then been published.-If, in this case, either the impartiality or the competency of the writer of the article be questioned; it is for the "society of gentlemen" who have been engaged in that Cyclopædia (any one of whom, even by name, at the time I knew not, and now hardly know,) to answer to the public that they did not intrust that department of their undertaking to an improper hand. But, their defence is rendered unnecessary by the details of the criticism itself; which, to any person in the subject, will pronounce its own sentence, whether or not it is a fair, or a competent one. I trust, I need go no farther, in order to satisfy any well-informed mind that the Monthly Review has spoken truth, in its assertion that I am a sufferer under some influence which does not raise the literary character of the country. us. And here I avow the unshaken reliance that, what I have done is at least sufficiently known to secure justice from those who shall come after But much detriment to the subjects in question, as well as to me, will intervene if they can be made to wait till then. And, if this wrong shall be accomplished; I hope, I meet your own feeling of the matter in auguring that, there is no contemporary name, of which posterity will so primarily ask, whether or not justice was done at the time, as of yours. Fortunately; the principles of Dioptrics (which I nowhere contradict,) are not only long-established truths; but, in addition to this, they are understood by a comparatively large class of persons, in every country; insomuch that, any matter deduced legitimately upon them cannot, from any accident, remain long in obscurity.'-pp. viii.-x. We feel that we are only fulfilling a sacred duty in thus putting forward honest claims to public consideration, and in doing so, we are confident that not their generosity, but their justice, will induce scientific men to examine and decide upon those claims. - ART. XIV. The Friend of Australia; or a plan for exploring the interior, and for carrying on a Survey of the whole Continent of Australia. By a retired Officer of the Hon. East India Company's Service. Illustrated with a map of Australia, and five plates. 8vo. pp. 428. London: Hurst, Chance & Co. 1830. THE interests connected with Australia are of such growing importance, that we gladly avail ourselves of every opportunity which enables us to make our countrymen, in general, better acquainted with the capabilities of that most valuable dependency of our empire. Much as has been said and written upon the subject, there are few persons amongst us who know any thing of that region, beyond the bare fact that New South Wales forms a portion of it; and that shoals of convicts are transported thither every year. No attention, or, at least, very little public attention, is directed to the inquiries which have been made, as well by the Government as by individuals, as to the extent of our possessions in that quarter, and the facilities which they afford for the support of a numerous population. The state of Europe, and, we may say, of England alone, is such, that every succeeding session of Parliament brings with it some two or three topics arising out of our domestic or foreign policy, which absorb the minds of all our statesmen and legislators, to the exclusion of minor affairs, amongst which those of our Colonies are uniformly ranked in the lowest scale. The frequent changes of our ministry, as the author before us very justly remarks, forcibly concur with other causes to postpone indefinitely the execution of measures previously resolved upon, for the benefit of our distant dependencies, and the consideration of many useful plans which have been suggested for that purpose. A new Colonial Secretary seldom adopts the ideas of his predecessor. He must have principles and systems of his own, and before he fixes and matures them, it is ten to one that he is no longer in office. This is a great misfortune, though, undoubtedly, one that cannot be very easily remedied in a representative govern ment. Under these circumstances it becomes an imperative duty on the press of the country to stand, in some degree, in the place of the government; to examine suggestions for the development of our colonial strength, from whatever quarter they come; to insist upon the adoption of those that are reasonable; to oppose monopolies that are always subservient to personal influence; to dissipate the delicate vapours of particular biasses, which form the atmosphere of cabinets; and to place practical principles upon their natural basis,the well understood interests, not of this or that set of ministers, but of the people at large. We have more than once complained of the neglect with which our Australian dominions have been, and continue to be, treated by |