at eels were produced in each. We do not know
sufficient of the history of Needham's experiments, either to affirm or
deny their authenticity, but we feel bound to remind our readers of
the much-decried experiments conducted by Mr. Crosse, and which were
afterwards verified by Mr. Weekes, of Sandwich. In these cases, insects
were produced by the action of a powerful voltaic battery upon a
saturated solution of silicate of potash, and upon ferro cyanuret
of potassium. The insects were a species of acarus, minute and
semi-transparent, and furnished with long bristles, which could only be
seen by the aid of the microscope. The sixth chapter treats of man, and
the author thus answers the question, "What is man?":--

"We say he is a material being, organized after a peculiar manner,
conformed to a certain mode of thinking, of feeling, capable of
modification in certain modes peculiar to himself, to his organization,
to that particular combination of matter which is found assembled in
him. If again it be asked, What origin we give to beings of the human
species? We reply, that like all other beings, man is a production of
nature, who resembles them in some respects, and finds himself submitted
to the same laws; who differs from them in other respects, and follows
particular laws determined by the diversity of his conformation. If then
it be demanded, Whence came man? We answer, our experience on this
head does not capacitate us to resolve the question; but that it cannot
interest us, as it suffices for us to know that man exists, that he is
so constituted as to be competent to the effects we witness."

In the seventh chapter the author, treating of the soul and spirit
says:--

"The doctrine of spirituality, such as it now exists, offers nothing
but vague ideas, or, rather, is the absence of all ideas. What does it
present to the mind but a substance which possesses nothing of which our
senses enable us to have a knowledge? Can it be truth, that man is able
to figure to himself a being not material, having neither extent nor
parts; which, nevertheless, acts upon matter without having any point
of contact, any kind of analogy with it; and which itself receives the
impulse of matter by means of material organs, which announce to it the
presence of other beings? Is it possible to conceive the union of the
soul with the body; to comprehend how this material body can bind,
enclose, constrain, determine a fugitive being, which esc