THE
ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics.
VOL. XVI.—NOVEMBER, 1865.—NO. XCVII.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by Ticknor andFields, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts.
Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes movedto the end of the article. Table of contents has been created for the HTML version.
Contents
WHY THE PUTKAMMER CASTLE WAS DESTROYED.
THE RHYME OF THE MASTER'S MATE.
THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE IN LIBRARIES.
LETTER TO A YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER.
THE PEACE AUTUMN.
DOCTOR JOHNS.
RODOLPHE TÖPFFER,
THE CHIMNEY-CORNER.
JEREMY BENTHAM.
A FAREWELL TO AGASSIZ.
THE FORGE.
THE PROGRESS OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
THE FIELD OF GETTYSBURG.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.
RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.
WHY THE PUTKAMMER CASTLE WAS DESTROYED.
There is a test of truth in popular creeds and in human opinionsgenerally which is prominently put forward by Herbert Spencer, and hasbeen more or less distinctly stated by other writers, long before ourtime,—a very searching and trustworthy test.
It is, in substance, this:—Whatever doctrine or opinion has received,throughout a long succession of centuries, the common assent of mankind,may be properly set down as being, if not absolutely true in its usuallyreceived form, yet founded on truth, and having, at least, a great,undeniable verity that underlies it.
If, however, there be conflicting details as to any doctrine, varying inform according to the sect or the nation that entertains it, then thetest is to be received as affirming the grand underlying truth, but notas proving any of the conflicting varieties of investment in whichparticular sects or nations may have chosen to clothe it.
Thus of the world's belief in the reality of another life, and in thedoctrine of future reward and punishment.
In some form or other, such a faith has existed in every age and amongalmost every people. Charon and his boat might be the means ofconveyance. Or the believer, dying in battle for the creed of theFaithful, might expect to wake up in a celestial harem peopled withHouris. Or the belief might embody the matchless horrors painted byDante; his dolorous city with the terrible inscription over itsentrance-gate: "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate."
A