thought.' And at p. 155, favours us with the following notable

passage.

The cerebral functions, which are much more numerous and diversified in the higher orders of the mammalia, than in any of the preceding divisions of the animal kingdom, receive their last development in man; where they produce all the phenomena of intellect, all those wonderful processes of thought, known under the names of memory, reflection, association, judgment, reasoning, imagination, which so far transcend any analogous appearance in animals, that we almost feel a repugnance to refer them to the same principle.-If therefore we were to follow strictly the great series of living bodies through its whole extent, we should see the vital properties gradually encreased in number and energy from the last of plants, the mosses or the alga, to the first of animals, man!'

Mr. Lawrence, it will be instantly recollected by every reader, whatever other merit may belong to him, has not that of being the inventor of these doctrines. They are as old as any on record, and have been advanced and confuted, and revived and driven into obscurity again and again. In the present instance, Mr. Lawrence has copied them, and even the terms in which he has expressed them, from the school of modern French philosophy. Indeed, this is not the first occasion on which he has consented to become a mere copyist, and for the purpose of propagating these worn-out but mischievous opinions: he is understood to be the writer of several articles on life, and other subjects connected with it, in the interminable Encyclopædia of Dr. Rees, in which the same principles are maintained, and in which Mr. Rennell has discovered, that he has translated whole sections from M. Bichat, without the slightest acknowledgment; and we have traced him, in like manner, still more frequently transcribing into his own pages materials of the same description from the free-thinking physiologists of Germany.

In 1817, Mr. Abernethy delivered another course of Physiological Lectures, exhibiting a general view of Mr. Hunter's physiology, and of his researches into comparative anatomy, in which he affords an interesting detail of the course of study of that distinguished naturalist, of the additions which he made to our stock of useful knowledge in these departments, and of the valuable ends to which he directed his pursuits. At the same time, he took occasion to defend the theory which he had previously explained, from the miserable ribaldry with which it had been assailed, and to guard his hearers from the mischief of the sceptical principles promulgated in that lecture-room in the preceding year. With that view, he made some very just observations on the general tone and method of proceeding of persons

professing

professing these principles, on the evil consequences arising to society from the unguarded adoption of them, and on the imputations which must attach to the medical profession, if a firm stand were not made against the conversion of the lecture-room of students in surgery into a school of infidelity. Exhibiting too the pious feeling of a well principled mind, he strove to elevate, as Hunter had ever done, the thoughts of the student from the contemplation of nature, to nature's God.

It has been said that “ an undevout astronomer is mad;" yet he only contemplates the immensity and order of the works of Nature, and the causes of the varieties of light and seasons, so serviceable to the living beings which inhabit this planet, and, as he infers, to those of others. But what shall we say of the anatomist who observes the structure and functions of those beings, who examines their extreme variety, and regular gradation and connexion, without any feeling or perception that Intelligence has operated in ordaining the laws of nature? We judge of others by ourselves, and assuredly, such a character must, by the bulk of mankind, be considered as possessing either a deficient or perverse intellect.

The opinion that Intelligence must have ordained the order of Nature, is not only impressed by her decrees upon the bulk of mankind, but is confirmed by the observations and reflections of the most observant and intellectual individuals of the human race. Those who think that intelligence may exist distinct from organization, are disposed to admit that the intelligence with which they are endowed may have a separate existence. Those who think that perception is not essential to life, but is an attribute of something different, are also disposed to admit the separate existence of perception and intelligence, and thus do these two opinions produce and support each other. Both opinions are natural to most men, and confirmed by the observations and consideration of the most intellectual of the human race.'-Physiological Lectures, p. 331, 332.

Mr. Lawrence sufficiently understood that these observations, though delivered in general terms, applied directly to himself; but, instead of taking the reproof in good part, expressed as it was without harshness or severity, he was unfortunately excited by it to a high pitch of angry feeling, and to a determination to shew his contempt for it by redoubling the offence. Accordingly, in his lectures, delivered in the ensuing year, (1818) under the pretence of defending himself, he indulges in the most coarse and virulent invective against his former patron. He talks, among other things, of being attacked with the odium theologicum, which he describes as the most concentrated essence of animosity, and rancour.' p. 10. However this be, Mr. Lawrence evinces, by his own example, that the odium anti-theologicum is of a far more dark and deadly character:—and if we are ever called

A 3

called upon to say where we should expect to find the most concentrated essence of animosity and rancour,' we shall answer without hesitation, in a sceptic, who found himself thwarted and exposed by one who felt the full force and value of sound religious principles, especially if such a person had once been his especial friend and benefactor. Mr. Lawrence, as if determined to endure no longer the imputation of delivering his opinions with some degree of mysticism and obscurity, now affirms, in language which none can misunderstand, that all the phenomena of life and of mind result entirely from the bodily structure, and consequently that death, which destroys the bodily structure, destroys the whole of man! Nor is he content merely to announce these opinions, and to leave them to their natural effect on the reader's mind, but he recurs to them again and again with an earnestness which seems to result more from passion and irritation, than from any motive intelligible even to himself; or, if he have such a motive, it must arise from conceiving that the maintenance of every thing valuable to the happiness of man depends on his success in establishing and propagating the belief of such opinions.

Unsatisfied with converting the lecture-room of the College into a school of materialism, Mr. Lawrence travels out of his course whenever it suits his purpose, and indulges his hearers with his opinions on various subjects of politics, religion, education, &c. In one place, he introduces a long diatribe on the controversies which have taken place among Christians, and facetiously compares religious discussions with the quarrels of the fair sex; in another, he rails at what he calls the vain attempts of persons in power to make men act or think alike. We find him, at one time, venting his mawkish lamentations over the human propensities to war, and passing high encomiums on the Quakers for the rationality of their creed; and, at another, bursting forth with all the fury of a disappointed sportsman, against the oppressive cruelty and intolerable abuses of that iniquitous and execrable code, the game laws.' p. 40. Nor does he conceal his political prepossessions. The governments of the old world he is pleased to inform us, in one line, are worn out despotisms;' and in the next, that Europe is likely to be converted, by the conspiracies of the mighty,' (those worn out despots) into one great state prison.' p. 37. But it is in America that all which is great and good is to be found; there, exclaims this enraptured seer, there is the animating spectacle of a country sacred to civil liberty,'-a country which has established itself out of the prejudices of the old world-where religion is in all its fervour without needing an alliance with the state to maintain it-where the law commands by the respect which it inspires, without being enforced by any mili

tary

tary power.' Whether this eulogium on America be poured forth in the design of transferring at some future time to that land of liberty and religious fervour' his own acquirements, and opinions, in case they should not be sufficiently appreciated in this country, we venture not to conjecture. Certain we are, that, if such an event should take place, he would meet with persons there, whose fervour in religion is nearly on a par with his own.

While doctrines of such a fearful nature were maintained by a professor acting under public authority, and, what is not a little singular, without discountenance by the Collegiate body by which he was appointed, it could not be supposed that they would be suffered to pass without any animadversion whatever; or that no stand would be made against the diffusion of principles so revolting to the feelings of mankind, and so destructive of all that tends to advance their happiness and to ennoble their nature. Our readers will hear with great pleasure that many of the most eminent members of the Lecturer's profession are anxious to rescue their community from the disgrace which would deservedly attach to it, if the taint of such principles should be supposed to be deep or extensive. Two pamphlets on the subject have also appeared from other quarters, the one by the Rev. Thomas Rennell, Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge; the other, entitled Cursory Observations on Mr. Lawrence's Lectures by one of the people called Christians; to which we must now turn our attention.

It may not be generally known, that the person holding the office of Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge is required by the founder to answer any cavils or objections which may be brought against rational or revealed religion. Mr. Rennell, therefore, was peculiarly called upon to come forward on the occasion. His pamphlet was published before Mr. Lawrence's second work had issued from the press, and when it was only known from the evidence of his two introductory lectures, and from general rumour, in how determined and persevering a manner he was endeavouring to subvert the principles of the medical students. Mr. Rennell has performed his task with equal spirit and ability. By applying the touchstone of close examination to the notions of Mr. Lawrence and some others who agree with him, he has shewn, to the satisfaction we apprehend of every reader, the endless perplexity and confusion of their ideas, the miserable inconsistencies with which their writings abound, and the gross improbability or positive falsehood of many of their assertions. He has entered into an investigation of the doctrine of vitality, and shewn, by clear and powerful reasoning, and aptness of illustration, how much more consonant it is with

the best conclusions of our reason, to believe that life, through the whole range of organized beings, consists in some principle of inherent activity superadded to the material structure, while in man, who lives in a state of reflection as well as sensation, an immaterial and immortal soul is added to the living principle which he possesses in common with other animals. Mr. Rennell concludes with some excellent remarks on the general character of modern scepticism, a severe and solemn reproof of those who are guilty of endeavouring to pervert the religious tenets of the young and inexperienced; and a suitable and impressive caution to those who are likely to be exposed to such seductions. The anonymous author of the Cursory Observations' has exclusively directed his attention to Mr. Lawrence's second work, his Lectures on Physiology, &c. He has remonstrated with him in terms of welldeserved severity on their general tone and character, and pointed out with great success the errors and inconsistencies into which he has been betrayed, errors which are truly astonishing in a man of his abilities, but still are naturally to be expected in one who undertakes to maintain a cause so radically unsound.

There remain to be mentioned two other works which stand at the head of this article. The one, A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Rennell concerning his remarks on scepticism,' by a Graduate of Medicine. The other Sketches on (of) the Philosophy of Life,' by a fit auxiliary to Mr. Lawrence in the cause of scepticism and materialism, Sir T. C. Morgan. The Graduate professes himself friendly to the cause which Mr. Rennell supports, but objects to several parts of his reasoning. We confess that, amidst the obscurity which pervades this pamphlet, we can neither discover the author's meaning in many parts, nor his object in writing at all. He professes to detect errors in Mr. Rennell's work, and to point them out as a friend, lest others should point them out in a hostile manner. We can easily understand that, when a friend busies himself solely in tracing out errors in a work, he puts arms into the hands of those who are disposed to run it down; but we cannot quite so well comprehend how the fact of errors being noticed in a friendly manner can tend to prevent their being made the subject of hostile animadversion. The Knight is a prodigious quoter of Greek and other outlandish tongues, of which he understands nothing, and trusts to his reader's understanding as little. He appears to be a true disciple of the French physiologico-sceptical school; and has a number of favourite terms, taken from it, such as, functions, tissues, reaction, &c. on which he rings perpetual changes, to the utter confusion of all sense. The following is a specimen (casually taken) of his jargon;-language it is not.

Essentially