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    G 6 i § # jr , admits of no compromise , lie speaks out with the most admirable frankness . A , spirit of . spldier-like Honour and openness pervades the book , coupled with a delightful simplicitj , and an innate qualify ; of truthfulness . Colonel Thaly is a nian you must believe in all matters of fact personally attested , and respect , in all matters of opinion and secondary testimony . The event ?! narrated in this volume be ^ bi with the restoration of selfgovernment in Hungary ., in April , 184 $ , and terminate > with the surrender ofComorn , by Klapka ^ pn the fir ^ t five day ? Of October ^ lS ^ . Dur ing this period , Comorn is Oxe centre round which all tlie Facts of the campaigns of these exciting times , having relation to that fortress , are grouped : and the reader thus obtains a tolerable insieht into the spirit ,

    the resources , the energy , and the free genius of at least one portion of the Hungarian people . Incidentally , the prominent figures of Kossuth and Gorgey , of Jellachich and Haynau , of Guyon and KJaplca pass before the reader , as they are more or less connected with Comorn . Kossuth and Gorgey visit it , Haynau and Jellachich besiege or menace it , Guyon and Klapka are , for a time , its governors . Around it the war rages , now oh this , now on that bank of the Danube . The Austrian bombshells sometimes setting on fire the town of Comorn , at , othei"s , the fire of the Hungarian guns , and the courage of the Honveds , beating back the

    Austrians ; now victory , now defeat for Comorn ; finally , " Submission , "—a word , which all Itlapka ' s services , and all his pleading , can never erase from its indissoluble connexion with liis name . ^ e trust that enough has been said to impress the reader with the fact , that Colonel Thaly has made a contribution to the history of the War of Independence of great value . It is not the less so , as will be readily apprehended , because Colonel Thaly had in view not so much the party , or even national contests of the day , as the great story of his country . We enter here into none of the controversies which this volume would excite ; satisfied with indicating that it presents evidence of great importance , tendered with equal modesty > upon the subjects of those controversies .

    Whether Gorgey was not a great general , but traitorously , because selfishly and ambitiously , inclined from the beginning of the war , we will not attempt to decide ; neither will we discuss whether JGapka might not have saved his country , or , at least , extorted honourable terms from the Austrians ; but these are topics upon which Colonel Thaly must be heard . The last thirty pages of the book contain a spirited and well-written sketch of the life , of a man who lias been too lightly spoken of in England , General Perczel . He was a staunch patriot , a bold soldier , and an honest man ; and , in so far as he had means , he certainly surpassed Gorgey in military exploits . Perczel was on his way to England when this volume was published ; Has he yet arrived ?

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Forest Days , By Cr . P . R , James . ( Parlour Library . ) Simms and M'Intyre . We simply announce ! this reprint . The readers of Mr . James ' s novels will welcome it . ' We have not had the courage to inakea deliberate attempt on : it ., The Disoivned . By Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton , Bart . With a Frontispiece . _ . Chapman and Hall . T # is cheap reprint of the Disowned has been "lightened and improved" by Sir Edward , who however speaks somewhat disdainfully of it , and we are too polite to contradict him . To the young readers of Bulwer , to those who delight in his metaphysics , the Disowned has its charm ; and even the older reader will recognise passages of considerable interest , —but on the whole , the work has not a very high position in the Bulwer library .

    Sermons on National Stibjects , preached in a Village Church , By Charles Kingsley . J . J . Griffin and Co . Kingsley ' s name is duly prized by us all , and the mere announcement of any work of his will to a great extent forestal criticism . For obvious reasons wo shall not criticise these Sermons , further than to point jn passing to the directness and force with which , in many pages , he announces his views . There are twenty-three sermons in all , and they are sermons in the strict sense of the word , therefore beyond our jurisdiction . Readable Books -. —1 st . " Edgar Poo ' s Tales and Poems . 2 nd . Letters of Peter Smith Vizpfcelly

    Fhjmley ; Essays and Speeches , by the Rov . Sydney . H . . Readable Books ! Never has n title been better justified than in those two contributions to our Literature of the Rail . They are prettily got up volumes , illustrated with woodcuts , but more brightly illustrated by their contents . Surely there never was a more cunning hand at making the impossible real than that of Edgar Poe , whoso stories have a horror of their own ! Was there over a more genial wit than Sydney Smith , —so wise , so merry , and so unctuous ? Peter JPlymley is immortal , although tho troubles of his day uro appeased , lho enanys from tho JSdinlvrgJi Review ' hero reprinted , are selected from tho well-known thrco volumes , —by what copyright mystery we divine not !

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    Memorial of James Fenimore Cooper . ^ nS ^ FrTon ' Portrait Gldlery . Part VI . W - - % 3 mS The M <\ niietoscope . By T . LoRor . _ _ „„„/ - T «« ri « otv ^ ia ' A Treatise on t / e Medod , tf Observation and Reasoning in PolUict . « J < J ^« gjgj ^ f Son ! The Imperial Cyclopedia . Pftrt XI . „ Oharloa Knitht . The Influence of Poetry . By Bcv . F . W . ItolicrtHon , M . A , ho lw > n " Xohn ' aClascal Lihvary- ' Ao Comedies tfPluutus By H . T . ^ ojr . J » -A . JoL I . H . <» ^ ««*»• Xohn ' s Illustrated library—Rome in the Nineteenth Century . Uy Charlotte A . Baton , ^ f ^ - Holm ' s Soienti / tc Library—iramhoMa Trawl * . Vol . II . Jf f' ""'»» Jtohn ' s Standard Library-The Analog < f Religion . By Joaoph Butlor , D . O . L . K . H- Bobn . Universal Free Trade . By A . Alinon . , o „; li . / u ffflJv Readable Hooks— Tho Letters of Peter Vlymley , Eisaye and Speeches . ^ ^ Jnfonry ViSoSlfirl Personal Adventure , of « Our Own Correspondent" in Italy . By Michael »«*« ""^ j ™ ;

    Reminiscences of Thought avdJ ?« olin ! t . ' Tt W Vinlrcrin !? S ^ AtT ™ N <> W Worhl aml iMr JBond '"" en- VoL "' Baton , Bloiikin , and Co Me'VtfeXnd Adventure * qf James Kelly VVmyer . 3 vol * . MnninffolS' """"^ Obsolethm in Art . A Reply to the Author of Modern Paxnten . By B . P . BippmgeHo . ^ t i % r \ j » t » 1 ' -kt vt Simpkin and MarHhall ¦ Irish Quarterly Review . No . VI . . ., _ * t .., «« o ii ;/ 1 » WIlv AfevftvordB on tho Effect qfthe Tnereaie q f Gold upon the Currency . Jamo » K ><« Rway A Letter to the Rev . W . Goode , M . A . By tho Itov . W . « . Flowor . J . Manto n * PyroUohny ; or , a / amildar / System tf Recreative Mr * Works . By a , W . Mortimer .

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    COMTE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . * * By G . H IiEWES . Part XIIL—Organic Chemistry : Evolution of Life . It may he taken as evidence of the erroneous views current among scientific men on the true nature of science as respects its classification , that a distinct body of doctrine should claim for itself a distinct existence in the shape of a Science of Organic Chemistry . Against this pretended science , Cbmte energetically protests , as a source of inevitable confusion , and as a consequence of the absence of that Philosophy of Science which he has endeavoured to elaborate .

    I open Dr . Gregory ' s admirable Handbook of Organic Chemistry—the latest published— -and this is the definition I find : " Organic Chemistry is so called because it treats of the substances which form the structure of organized beings and of their products , whether animal or vegetable . " Now , although it is not possible , I believe , to draw a line of demarcation between the inorganic and organic worlds , although the differences we observe are not essential ,. " . butphenomenal , being differences in the varieties of direction of "force , not differences in the nature of force , nevertheless we , who only study phenomena , recognise a marked difference between the phenomena of organized and of inorganized substances , such as necessitates

    a corresponding difference in classification ; and as the phenomena of ^ organized matter are regulated by special laws not applicable to inorganized matter , we insist upon isolating them . Comte , therefore , properly objects to physiological phenomena being treated as simple chemical phenomena ; he objects to the chemist undertaking to solve problems which require the concourse of the Physiologist ; he objects to a science which , while it has physiology for its subject matter , attempts to dispense with physiological method . The very phrase , Chemistry of organized bodies , implies the presence of an element not within the competence of Chemistry , except upon a vicious extension of the term . Chemistry does not concern itself with the phenomena of Life ; yet those phenomena are necessary to organized

    bodies ! In protesting against making Organic Chemistry a separate science , Comte must not be understood to underrate the importance of inquiries into the chemistry of organized bodies ; but bis meaning is , that you might as well constitute a science of Animal Mechanics from the specification of all the mechanical phenomena observable in animals , as a science of Organic Chemistry from a specification of the chemical phenomena noticeable in organic bodies . Physiology is subordinate to Chemistry ; its greater

    complexity of phenomena embraces chemical laws , and some other laws peculiar to it . That the Physiologist could not constitute his science without the aid of Chemistry lies in the very nature of his science ; but the chemist can and does constitute Chemistry without the aid of the Physiologist . Therefore the positive philosophy insists upon a division of this said Organic Chemistry into two different parts ; 1 st . That which relates to Chemistry , properly so-called . 2 nd . That which relates to Physiology . No mind familiar with the importance of Method will fail to appreciate the necessity of this division .

    The general principle upon which this division must be founded , Comte says , resides "in the essential separation of the condition of Death from that of Life , or , what comes to nearly the same thing , the stability and instability of the proposed combinations subject to the influence of ordinary agents . Among the various compounds indistinctly united under the term organic , some owe their existence to the vital movement , are subject to continual variations , and almost always constitute simple union : these

    cannot belong to Chemistry , but to Biology , static or dynamic , according as we study thorn in their fixed state , or in the vital succession of their regular changes—blood , lymph , fat , Sec , are of this class . The others , on the contrary , forming the immediate elements of these , arc substances essentially dead , susceptible of remarkable permanence , and presenting all the characters of true combinations , independent of life—these , the organic acids , alcohol , albumen , urea , &c , belong to the domain of Chemistry , for they arc the samo as inorganic substances . "

    How , then , is the Chemist to distinguish between what belongs to his domain and what to the domain of Biology ? By a very simple rule . He has only to examine whether the proposed problem con be solved by the application of chemical jtrinciples alone , without the aid of any consideration of physiological action whatever . As soon as any of the phenomena of Life manifest themselves , he is warned of the presence of more complex agencies than arc " dreamt of in his philosophy . " It is well known that although we can create certain organic compounds , we can only do so by the degradation of some previously-existing organic substance It is in vain that we analyze organic matters and ascertain

    their elements ; wo cannot put those elementa together' again , as we can with inorganic substances . There lies a mystery of synthesis we cannot penetrate . I think we may sec an analogous mystery in the remarkable facts of i 8 omerism , or bodies having the same elements , the same cquiva-• For tho Oomto Suhserintion Fund I liavo to acknowledge tho receipt of 10 * . from Mr . J . 0 , Duncan , and of 5 » . from T , Payton ,

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    June 26 , 18 S 2 Q TEE READER . 615

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    We should dp our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . — Gokthb .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1852, page 615, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1941/page/19/