Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. New York:Wiley & Putnam. 1845. 12mo. pp. 291.
This is one of the most striking and ingenious scientific romances thatwe have ever read. The writer of it is a bold man; he has undertaken togive a hypothetical history of creation, beginning, as the title-pagessay, at the earliest period, and coming down to the present day. It isnot quite so authentic as that of Moses, nor is it written with such anair of simplicity and confidence as the narrative of the Jewishhistorian; but it is much longer, and goes into a far greater variety ofinteresting particulars. It contradicts the Jewish cosmogony in a fewparticulars, and is at variance with probability and the ordinary lawsof human reasoning in many others. But the rather liberal rules ofinterpretation, which it is now the fashion to apply to the firstchapter of Genesis, will relieve the reader from any scruples on theformer account; and as to the latter, in these days of scientificquackery, it would be quite too harsh to make any great complaint aboutsuch peccadilloes. The writer has taken up almost every questionablefact and startling hypothesis, that have been promulgated by proficientsor pretenders in science during the present century, except animalmagnetism; and for this omission we have reason to be thankful. Thenebular hypothesis, Laplace's or Compte's theory of planets shelledoff from the sun, spontaneous generation,—some of these vagaries, weadmit, are of much older date than the year 1800,—the Macleay system,[Pg 2]dogs playing dominoes, negroes born of white parents, materialism,phrenology,—he adopts them all, and makes them play an important partin his own magnificent theory, to the exclusion, in a great degree, ofthe well-accredited facts and established doctrines of science.
We speak lightly of the author's plan, as one can hardly fail to do of ascheme so magnificent, and going apparently so far beyond the ordinarysources of information and the range of the human intellect. But theexecution of the work is of so high an order, as fairly to challengeattention and respect. The writer, who has not chosen to give his nameto the world, is evidently a man of great ingenuity and correct taste, amaster of style, a plausible, though not a profound, reasoner, andhaving quite a general, but superficial, acquaintance with the sciences.His materials are arranged with admirable method, the illustrations arecopious and interesting, the transitions are skilfully managed, and theseveral portions of the theory are so well fitted to each other, andform such a round and perfect whole, that it seems a pity to subject itto severe analysis and searching criticism. It is a very pleasanthypothesis, set forth in a most agreeable manner; and though it containsmany objectionable features, these are cautiously veiled and kept in thebackground, and the reader is seduced into accepting most of theconclusions, before he is aware of their true character and tendency.
Before a just opinion can be formed of the c