the
natural sciences to their "basic principles." He proceeds to speculate
with great ingenuity on the nature of light, the form, relations and
movements of atoms, the action of electricity upon them, the
constitution of the atmosphere, mode of creation of the solar system,
and the _rationale_ of chemical affinity. From these lofty regions he
stoops to his conclusion in the new science of "chromo-therapeutics." He
undertakes to define and explain the alleged effects upon mind, soul and
body of all the colors of the spectrum. Among these colors he assigns
the place of honor to blue, that tint emanating from the frontal portion
of the brain in rays visible to certain finely-organized individuals,
and being associated with the highest intellectual faculties. Red
belongs to the opposite pole of the cerebral sphere, and holds special
relations with the grosser part of man's abstract nature. In this
mysterious region of inquiry he joins hands with some questionable
allies, such as the Spiritualists, the phrenologists and the
mesmerizers. The power of the clairvoyants he does not doubt. Indeed, he
claims to have used it himself, and to have fattened on it, his present
weight of one hundred and eighty pounds having been attained, he tells
us, together with perfect health, by the judicious employment of "these
subtler agencies." One is tempted to ask, in view of such a result, why
waste time on the color-cure when the mesmeric system succeeds so
admirably?

Should we demur to these eccentricities of an enthusiastic savant, he
would perhaps point us to similar excesses in some of the acknowledged
lights of intellectual progress, and cite as a recent instance of the
madness of too much learning the ascription, by the brilliant yet
matter-of-fact and practical Tyndall, of almighty "potency" to matter.
Of course we should reply that Tyndall was a sincere and earnest
student, and not a charlatan or a fanatic; whereto our author might
respond, and respond justly, in sharp disclaimer of the latter brace of
characters. He seems to be sincere: he can read and think, and does
both, as the first part of his book, and much of the rest of it, show.
He would have escaped the imputation we have suggested as not unapt to
be cast upon him, secured a full hearing in a more respectable quarter,
and gained higher aid in the development of his ideas, had he been less
hasty in forming and stating some of his ultimate conclusions and the
practical a