The Spirit Disembodied. By Herbert Broughton. (Edinburgh : Nimmo.)—There is
much thought in this book, some of the arguments are good, and most of the analogies are telling. Its object is to prove that the soul exists independently of the body ; that "when we die we do not fall asleep, we only change our place." The whole argument, the writer tells us, is based on the existence of the Deity, but he might have said with more reason that the ablest and most conclusive part of his argument is that which proves the existence of the Deity. We cannot follow him so readily into his further deductions from the pre- misses which he has established. The novelty of his subject seems to oppress him. He is treading on uncertain ground, and yet ho wishes to walk with a certain footstep. The result is that while we agree with many of the principles he lays down, we are not satisfied with their application, and that though his arguments seem almost unanswerable in themselves, they are often capable of being turned against him.
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