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freedom, lying at the very foundation of accountability, of self-approval and self-reproach, of a recognition of virtue and vice, of innocence and culpability, of reward and punishment; a freedom which is the ground of all law, and which, however its exercise may be supposed to be affected by motives, must be presupposed as the ground of presenting any motives at all. The very conception of the exercise of moral freedom, presupposes a recognition of good and evil, of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, of virtue and vice; in short, of a moral law, as the guide of conscience. Moral freedom and conscience so reciprocally involve each other, that one can not exist without the other. Without the persuasion of freedom, in originating or abstaining from an act, it would lose all moral quality, and there could evidently be no conscience, or consciousness of error or rectitude; and the very existence of this conscience as a sanctioning power, however it may be misled by a perverted or unenlightened judgment, is itself a testimony to the existence of some ultimate, objective standard, or rule of right and wrong, which is moral law reflected in universal human reason, and having its ground in a perfect will.

"If virtue and vice were only conventional, there could be no ground for law in equity or justice; and the ultimate consequence of such a view, confounding the essential and eternal distinctions of right and wrong, would terminate in atheism. But the universal voice of humanity testifies that there is a rule-not of right, because most profitable, but of the most profitable, because the best and most just; and this at once points to an immutable standard, or rule of best and right. Such rule, in its perfect and ultimate form, must imply a perfect will by which it is imposed. But as will itself implies moral choice, then perfect will must always choose the best and holiest, and thus become identified with perfect moral law. And as, moreover, such perfect will must belong to perfect being, and perfect being admits nothing higher, then the ultimate standard of right must exist and have its ground in the eternal fitness of things, in relation to the very nature of such being, and must be immutable, as the nature of perfect being must itself be immutable, or its perfection would not otherwise be absolute."

This subject of the moral law of good and evil, can be carried much farther than our author has found expedient in his essay.

That moral law,-that law of our nature which looks more peculiarly than any other to the Deity, as its fountain and its end-rests entirely on the presupposition of the existence of evil. There can be no moral freedom, no meritorious exercise of the will, no choice between good and evil, if evil did not exist. We could have no

merit in doing what is right, if there never was a wrong— in choosing what is good, if there never was a bad. The divine mission of the Saviour would have been for nought if there had been no sin—that is, evil-to atone.

The whole sermon on the mount, and every blessing connected with it, rests on the supposition of the existence of evil. Charity and justice could not exist if there had been no evils to relieve, or wrongs to redress. Nay, the love of God itself, the highest excellence of our nature, could not exist as a moral motive, if there were nothing opposite to choose, and we could not help it. It is in the voluntary obedience to the commandment; the free exercise of the will between the good and bad, and the preference of the one to the other, which constitutes the whole merit of an action. "Motives," says Reid, "suppose liberty (the choice of good and evil) in the agent; otherwise they have no influence at all." * The existence of evil, or in other words, the freedom of choice or of the will, is absolutely necessary to the existence of the whole moral law. But it is in the observance of the moral law, involving as it does, our whole duty to God and our fellow man, that the highest standard of goodness and excellence consists; and yet this moral law rests absolutely on the presupposition of the existence of evil. An angel if he could not but choose to be good, would have no moral excellence, for the merit is in the choice.

We propose, at a future time, to go into a further analysis of the subject matter of Mr. Miles' book, in the meanwhile commending it heartily to the attention of our readers.

The subject is in itself of the utmost importance to us all; and however trite it may have hitherto been in itself; from the standing point from which our author treats it, it will be seen that, to most of our readers at least, it is entirely new, especially to those who have not read Mr. Morell's work. It is handled with ability and that conscientious fairness and love of truth, which is peculiarly fitted to so grave a matter. It will do good even to those who may differ from him in opinion, for where it does not convince, it is strongly calculated to stir the fountains of thought in any earnest and reflecting mind, and by rousing investigation, lead to valuable results-to those results of truth and holiness, which we feel convinced are his great and only aim. J. S. R.

* Active powers of Man, p. 262.

NEW SERIES, VOL. I.-NO. I.

10

ART. VII.-CRYPTOGAMOUS ORIGIN OF FEVERS.

On the Cryptogamous Origin of Malarious and Epidemic Fevers. By J. K. MITCHELL, A.M., M.D., Prof. of Practical Medicine in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.

1849.

THIS duodecimo contains a series of lectures, delivered before the graduating class of the Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, during the session of 1846-7, by Prof. Mitchell.

Although addressed more particularly to the members of the medical profession, (or those who were shortly to become so,) there is yet enough of popular interest in the subject to make it acceptable to the general reader. The announcement of a fundamental principle in physics, of a new theory which can explain satisfactorily certain well known effects, is sufficient of itself to arrest the attention of men, even if malarious and epidemic fevers were not among the most common "ills which flesh is heir to."

Whether this theory, which the Professor developes in the course of his lectures, does or does not, satisfactorily explain the cause of disease, we design to give no opinion of our own. Indeed, we suppose it would be rash and unphilosophic to form an opinion, until a sufficient number of facts are collected, and a series of observations made, to confirm or refute it. Our purpose is simply to draw attention to the subject, and to lay before the unprofessional reader an outline of our author's argument. Being ourselves among the uninitiated, we can safely promise to forego the use of all technical and professional terms, and to eschew all subtle disquisitions upon "the appetences of the lacteals, absorbents," &c.

It is but proper and fair to our author, to state at the outset that his views are proposed with much caution and diffidence, and especially to his youthful hearers, with a caveat against their too hasty adoption; a prudent and commendable course, which we think the Dr. has occasionally lost sight of in the heat of his argument. After passing in review the various theories which have, at different times, been proposed to account for the origin of malarious and epidemic fevers, and showing how they fail to meet all the requirements of facts, the author thus announces his own.

"The only theoretic view of malaria, to which I incline, is that which refers marsh fevers, and some of the epidemic diseases, to a living organic cause, capable of reproduction by germs, as is alleged of contagious diseases; but unlike the latter in this, that the germs are not produced by the organism of the sick, but exteriorly to, and independently of, the human body. In other words, that as the germs of contagious diseases are reproduced in the body, the germs productive of malarious and other non-contagious diseases are elaborated and re-elaborated out of the body, and independently of its agency. One is the product of person, the other of place." p. 32.

And, in further development of his views, he shortly afterwards adds:

"Of the cryptogamous plants, the fungi are distinguished for their diffusion and number, for their poisonous properties, and their peculiar season of growth, for the minuteness of their spores, and for their love of darkness and tainted soils and heavy atmospheres. While then, I shall present their claims to be considered as the principal cause of fevers, I do not mean to exclude the occasional agency of other cryptogamous vegetables; and beg, when using the convenient word, fungus, to be understood as not entirely denying the agencies of cognate beings of kindred sub-divisions, which are hardly distinguishable from it."

In a department of botany where there is yet much of obscurity, and where, among the lowest microscopic forms of vegetable life, the best informed naturalists are frequently puzzled in referring them to one order of plants or the other, our author may well be pardoned for not indicating more distinctly his semina morborum.

The famous "red snow," first brought by Capt. Ross from the Artic regions, and since found upon the Alps and the borders of lakes in Scotland, gave rise to long discussions among the naturalists of Europe; and the most minute examinations of its structure were made, before its place in the system was finally established. Bauer, who first examined it, considered it a fungus, and named it Uredo nivalis. Baron Wrangel found the same thing in Europe, growing on limestone rocks, and described it as a species of Lepraria, (which genus is now considered but an abnormal state of some Lichens). Sprengel suggested its affinity to the Algae. Agardh, the famous Algologist, upon comparing Wrangle's plant, Lepraria Kermesina, with the "red snow," came to the conclusion that they were one and the same, and that it was neither Fungus nor Lichen, but an Alga. His memoir on the subject set

tled the long disputed question, and it now remains among the Algae, under the name of Discerea nivalis.

So, also, on that frontier region, where the lowest forms of animal and vegetable life seem blended together; where the spores of some Algae possess, during a portion of their existence, the power of voluntary motion, (and in the opinion of some naturalists, are real infusorial animals) and the lowest Polyps assume the structural form of vegetable life, without power of locomotion, propagating and continuing their quasi vegetable existence by gemmae, or buds from the parent stem, there will probably always be some disputable ground, arising from the great difficulty of drawing a distinctive line between the two kingdoms.

Whatever has passed through the hands of the Great Architect, is finished and perfect. When, therefore, such things are rejected, because they cannot come into our systems as they are constituted, it is an evasion of the question and a confession of our ignorance.

Although our author includes the whole family of cryptogamous plants, in which are the Ferns, Mosses Hepatics, Lichens, Algae and Fungi, as suspicious characters, in which there may be mischief, he evidently modifies his charge subsequently, so as to embrace only the fungi and the more minute algae. These latter are not brought forward very conspicuously in the indictment, nor subjected to so rigid an examination as their more suspicious associate, the fungi, but we think it would be well to have an eye upon them and retain a claim for any future proceedings which may be found necessary.

Though abounding in sea water, and there attaining their greatest size and profusion, (some species in the Antarctic regions growing to the length of 600 to 800 feet, and forming barriers along the coast where they have been drifted by winds and tide,) they are also found in fresh water, in running streams, stagnant pools and ditches, and damp earth and stones, and even on trees.

Every one is familiar with the green slime seen floating upon still waters in warm weather, sometimes fringing the sides of shallow ditches and the stems of submersed aquatic plants, often carpeting the damp earth where water is habitually thrown, with their green nett work. These are Confervoid Algae, and under the microscope, many of them are of singular beauty.

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