assumptions and empty words." It was a declaration that men must hereafter think and know for themselves, and that no knowledge is exempt from examination and criticism. The force of this protest is very much weakened, if not entirely lost, in the abridgment.
The opening chapters of the second book, and those parts which deal with Time, Space, and Infinity, with Substance and Cause, are well represented. The most noticeable omission in this book is the long chapter on Power, but no doubt it will receive due attention in the forthcoming volume, which is to deal with Locke's ethical theory. The most important passages of the third book are very skilfully brought together in a brief space. More prominence has been very rightly given to the fourth book, and its more important chapters are well represented. With the exception of the first book, the proportions of the Essay appear to be well preserved.
As far as the title is concerned, this is the second edition of a book. which appeared many years ago. Its contents are, however, altogether new. The former work confined itself to the consideration of Schiller's Kantian period, while the present volume studies his earlier philosophical productions, and is, therefore, Part I of a work embracing both epochs.
In his usual clear and masterly manner Fischer traces Schiller's philosophical development, the knowledge of which he deems essential to a proper understanding and appreciation of the poet's compositions. Works like Die philosophischen Briefe, Der Geisterseher, Die Künstler, must remain obscure to the reader unacquainted with their evolution. A thinker is a part of his country and time, and consequently related to the prevailing course of thought. The beginning of the latter half of the eighteenth century found Germany under the sway of a "common-sense" philosophy that was the final outcome of Wolff's eclecticism, and bore a great resemblance to the Scottish school of Reid, with which indeed it came into direct contact. We find adherents of Wolff, like Garve, translating the books of Scottish moralists into German, books which Schiller studied in the Karlsschule. Schiller's earlier writings, Die Philosophie der Physiologie and Ueber den Zusammenhang der thierischen Natur des Menschen mit seiner geistigen, betray the influences of the reigning systems of thought. But the "poet" crops out in all these productions; poetical speculations are introduced that have no immediate bearing on the scientific investigations under discussion. Thus, the universe is conceived as a divine work of art, which it is the highest end of man to contemplate and understand. Every physical phenome-
