ry is told is worthy of remark. In the
beginning, when events are occurring within the realm of things
already known or conceived of, he speaks in the matter-of-fact, honest
tone of the modern explorer; so far as the language goes we might be
reading the reports of an arctic voyage as recounted in the daily
newspaper; there is the same unpretentiousness and directness of
phrase, the same attention to apparently commonplace detail, and the
same candid portrayal of wonder, hope, and fear. But when the
stupendous descent into the interior world has been made, and we have
been carried through the intermediary occurrences into the presence of
the beautiful goddess herself, the style rises to the level of the
lofty theme and becomes harmoniously imaginative and poetic. The
change takes place so naturally and insensibly that no jarring
contrast is perceived; and a subdued sense of humor, making itself
felt at the proper moment, redeems the most daring flights of the work
from the reproach of extravagance.

Mr. Bradshaw is especially to be commended for having the courage of
his imagination. He wastes no undue time on explanations, but
proceeds promptly and fearlessly to set forth the point at issue.
When, for example, it becomes necessary to introduce the new language
spoken by the inhabitants of the interior world, we are brought in
half a dozen paragraphs to an understanding of its characteristic
features, and proceed to the use of it without more ado. A more timid
writer would have misspent labor and ingenuity in dwelling upon a
matter which Mr. Bradshaw rightly perceived to be of no essential
importance; and we should have been wearied and delayed in arriving at
the really interesting scenes.

The philosophy of the book is worthy of more serious notice. The
religion of the new race is based upon the worship of the human soul,
whose powers have been developed to a height unthought of by our
section of mankind, although on lines the commencement of which are
already within our view. The magical achievements of theosophy and
occultism, as well as the ultimate achievements of orthodox science,
are revealed in their most amazing manifestations, and with a sobriety
and minuteness of treatment that fully satisfies what may be called
the transcendental reader. The whole philosophic and religious
situation is made to appear admirably plausible: but we are gradually
brought to perceive that there is a futility and a rottenness inh