of the terrene concretion, so as to disturb the operations of the nobler parts. In this manner our prefent conduct may be fuppofed to influence our future fortunes; and as it is probable that we fhall enter into another life, as it were in a state of infancy, it may be a confiderable part of the employment and amufement of the old inhabitants to take new comers under their care and tuition, to give them all needful inftructions, and especially to cleanfe them from fuch impure mixtures of their former compofition as can poffibly be removed. That the inhabitants of the vehicular ftate form a community, we cannot well doubt, when we reflect on the variety of difpofitions wherein we quit our prefent manfion to take up our abode in theirs. For if we were to live fingle and apart from each other, one kind of preparative would ferve us all; but the great difference among us in our manner of living and dying indicates a like difference of occupation in the country whereto we are going: and as a nation cannot fubfift here without a variety of profesfions to fupply the wants and conveniencies of the whole, fo there will be a public intereft there to be ferved by members variously qualified, contributing their feveral parts to the general emolument. Finally, the vehicular life may be supposed to confift of feveral ftages, fimilar to thofe of youth, maturity, and age; the laft not indeed attended with the pains and infirmities accompanying it here, but diftending and feparating the fibres of the vehicle, until at laft they open and let loose the enclofed fpirit, which will then fly off naked and alone.' The fpirit thus feparated from its vehicle, and no longer connected with any determinate portion of matter, will be received into the world of fpirits, and become a part of that which was anciently ftyled, the Mundane, or Univerfal Soul. The Mundane foul is compofed of an innumerable hoft of diftinct fpirits, having the fame capacities, the fame primary properties of perceptivity and activity, one common fenfory, the fame perceptions, fentiments, motives, and determinations; ferving as organs to each other for conveying perceptions inftantaneoufly from the most diftant regions of nature, and contributing their respective shares in perfect concert and unanimity towards carrying on one general plan. On account of the immediate and reciprocal communication of perceptions among them, their entire unanimity of fentiment, and perfect harmony of action, they may be confidered as one being, to whom the material world ferves as a fenfory, exciting fenfations and reflections, exhibiting ideas, and furnishing inftruments of action. This Being may be looked upon as the minifter of the Deity by whom the laws of nature are executed, all the material fyftems that we behold from the greatest to the leaft were originally formed, and the world and all things therein kept in order; and, upon

many

many confiderations, may well be pronounced immortal, unchangeable, compleatly intelligent, wife and happy. This hoft of happy fpirits,' fays our Author, called by one name, the Univerfal Soul, from their uniformity of action and fentiment, we suppose the receptacle for particular fpirits, as they can difengage themselves from their vital union with matter, and that upon the difruption of a vehicle, the perceptive inhabitant will be difcharged therein, and incorporated therewith: whereby the communication with fpiritual fubftance being opened, it will inftantly partake of all the knowledge and defigns of its neighbours, and immediately take its fhare in their operations and pleafures. And if we confider the fources of enjoyment to the Mundane Soul, viz. the contemplation of univerfal nature, the fcience of all operations, as well in the largest as the minuteft bodies, the poffeffion of an enlarged understanding and perfect reafon, the affurance of an immortality and unchangeableness of character, the conftant occupation, without labour or difficulty, in the moft magnificent, delightful, and important works, the confcioufnefs of acting invariably right, and the clear conception of the divine attributes, we may well admit this the happieft ftate created fubftance can be placed in.'

This is a general account of the hypothefis which our Author hath advanced, in regard to the future and final condition of men; and which he hath explained and illuftrated with his ufual fprightlinefs and ingenuity. We recommend the whole to the attentive perufal of our Readers, who, whatever opinion they may entertain of the fcheme itself, cannot fail to admire the lively imagination and glowing benevolence of the writer.In the last chapter of this part of his work, entitled, The Vifion, Mr. Search has further illuftrated his hypothefis by way of fcenical reprefentation. He fuppofes himself firft tranflated into the vehicular state, and afterwards abforbed into the mundane foul; and gives a very particular and entertaining account of the scenes through which he paffed, the occurrences which befel him, the various obfervations that be made, and the curious knowledge that was imparted to him during his abfence from the body. Soon after his entrance into the vehicular state, Mr. Locke took him under his care and tuition, and claimed a relation to him. The difcourfe in which he made out his relation, containing in general a number of ingenious and ufeful obfervations, and, in particular, the reasons which may be suppofed to have induced our Author to affume the name of Search, we fhall give our Readers at length.

"You must have read, (fays that great philofopher) that, in the early ages, fuch as applied themselves to the ftudy of nature were reputed conjurors by the vulgar, thought knowing and

R 4

expert

them.

expert in every thing, and dignified with the appellation of wife mer: not that they ever aflumed this title to themselves, as being more fenfible than any body how little human science deferved it, but they could not help what other people called At length Pythagoras prevailed to have the name of Wile Man changed into that of Admirer of Wisdom, by which he intended to take upon himself the character of a person affiduouily employed in the fearch of knowledge, without ever pretending to have attained it compleatly. Thus he became the founder and father of thilofophy, and his defcendants for a while preferved the fame tenour of conduct and temper of mind; always inquifitive, always improving, fenfible their greatest wifdom lay in the knowledge of their ignorance, and unfolicitous to conceal it. But, in process of time, another set of perfons mingled among them, whether really of the family, but tainted with a corrupt mixture of foreign blood, or whether a spurious iffue, gaining admittance through the negligence of the heralds. Thefe folks, finding how great fubmiffion had been paid to the ipfe dixit of the founder, and from thence fuppofing he delivered his doctrines as oracular truths never to be controverted or examined, thought to prove themfelves his offspring by an air of pofitiveness and felf-fufficiency: fo they fet up for oracles too, illued their ipfe dixits like the edicts of an emperor, and reasfumed that claim to wisdom which he had taken so much pains to reject.

From thenceforward the family became parted into two branches, the Searches and the Knowalls. The former, retaining the fpirit of their ancestor, were perpetually searching after knowledge, without ever thinking they had enough, purfuing always the ufeful rather than the curious, or regarding the latter only as it might be made fubfervient to the former. Diffident of their understanding, they examined their premifles carefully before they built upon them, and fubmitted their deductions to a review upon proper occafions: and though defpairing of abfolute certainty in any thing, they wanted not moral affurance to keep them fteady in following the best lights of their judgment. In their intercourfe with others they were docible, humble, and modeft, willing to learn of any body, and ready to communicate what they had, were it ever fo fmall: defirous of reputation only as it might gain them the better hearing, wishing to be believed no further than as they could offer reasons convincing to the bearer: lovers of unity and reconcilement rather than oppofition, ftriving to interpret a different opinion, fo as to bring it compatible with their own, rather than to overthrow it.

"On the contrary, the Knowalls, confident in their abilities, foon thought themfelves mafters of whatever they undertook:

they

they fcorned to examine their principles minutely, as betraying a want of genius and penetration, fo they commonly took up their tenets at hap-hazard, and then pleafed themselves with fhowing how dexterously they could maintain them; more folicitous to gain the applaufe, than promote the benefit of mankind: affuming, peremptory, and overbearing, proving every thing by demonftration, or expecting their word fhould be taken in lieu of demonftration: impatient of contradiction themselves, and delighted to overthrow all who but feemed to differ from them. This branch produced the Sophifts of Greece, the academics of after times who would maintain the pro and con upon any fubject propofed, the fchoolmen and popifh doctors in the dark ages of Chriftianity. According to the humour of the times they lived in, they would brag of being fkilful in all arts whatever, even to making the fhoes upon their feet, and ring upon their finger; or of running ye off two hundred lines while they ftood upon one leg; or of writing a-gallop, and furnishing fheets for the prefs fafter than they could be printed off. In modern days there have been offsets fprung out from them : the Methodifts, who pretend to know the fecrets of Heaven, and deliver all their fancies with a Thus faith the Lord and the Freethinkers, who, though fole mafters of reafon, do not use it for the information of mankind, but only to pick holes in the works of others, and, if they can make themfelves laugh, efteem it the fame as making an adverfary fubmit.

"The Search branch, not fond of putting themfelves forward, have fcarce ever compofed a vifible church, but lie difperfed up and down, minding their own bufinefs quietly, according to their feveral talents and ftations. To this branch belong those who have made any real improvement, not only in philofophy, but in any art or fcience conducive to the benefit of mankind, and thofe who, wanting ability to ftrike out improvements of their own, endeavour fairly to underftand and make a good ufe of thofe imparted to them by others. For many of the Searches have very moderate parts, but then they do the best that is to be done with them: on the other hand, we often find fhining talents among the Knowalls, but then they feek no more than to fhine with them, and it is well if they do not turn them to mifchievous purpofes. adds new tatt sidan

"As I was a Search myfelf, (continued the Philofopher) it is natural for me to favour my own relations, and I need not ufe flattery to perfuade you of your being one: for it is not brightness of parts, nor extenfiveness of learning, but an honeft induftrious temper, a cautious freedom of inquiry, a fobriety of mind, an humility of difpofition, that characterife our line. If I had found no other mark, I fhould have known you for a true Search by the pliablenefs of your neck. The Knowalls have a wonderful ftiffness in the

vertebra,

vertebræ, therefore they judge of their fize by the noise they make, and, having most of them pretty loud voices, they defpife the rest of us as so many pygmies.'

We shall take leave, at prefent, of this original Writer, with obferving, that he has maintained the character of a Search through the whole of his performance, and proved himself a true defcendant and zealous admirer of Mr. Locke: fome of his readers, perhaps, will be of opinion, that he has discovered too close an attachment to the principles and reasoning of that great mafter,

[To be concluded in another Article.]

An Efay on Difeafes incident to literary and fedentary Perfons. With proper Rules for preventing their fatal Co fequences, and Inftrucsions for their Cure. By S. A. Tiflot, M D. Profeffor of Phyfic at Berne. The Second Edition *, with very large Additions. With a Preface and Notes by J. Kirkpatrick, M. D. 12mo. 3s. Nourfe. 1769.

R. Tiffot, on being appointed Profeffor of Phyfic in the univerfity of Berne, delivered before the members of that univerfity, an inaugural oration on the difcales incident to literary and fedentary perfons.

Thefe difeafes are derived from two principal fources, the perpetual labours of the mind, and the conftant inaction of the body.

That we may understand,' fays our Author, the influence the workings of the mind have upon the health of the body, we need only remember in the firft place, the fact I have already mentioned; and which every perfon who thinks, and takes notice of his thinking, must be fenfible of, viz. that the brain is in action during the time of thinking. 2dly, That every part of the body which is in action becomes weary; and that if the labour continues for any length of time, the functions of the part are difturbed. 3dly, That all the nerves proceed from the brain, and exactly from that part of it fuppofed to be the feat of thinking, and called the fenforium commune. 4thly, That the nerves are fome of the moft principal parts of the human frame; that they affift in all its functions; and that whenever their powers are disturbed, the whole animal economy muft fuffer. These evident principles being once eftablished, every one must be fenfible that when the brain is exhausted by the action of the foul, the nerves mast of coarse be injured; in confequence of which, health will be endangered, and the conftitution will at length be destroyed without any other apparent caufe.'

The parts first injured by the undue exercife of the mind, are, the brain itself, the nerves which arife from it, and the ftomach, which is furnished with many nerves of an exquisite fenfation; and by degrees indeed the whole body.

See Review for February, Art. 39, of the Catalogue,

The