624 NEW BOOKS. of nature which is not founded on the ideas of the soul and of God," first by a general historical sketch of philosophies of nature (pp. v.-cxix.), then by a series of " monographs " which are to serve as examples to justify the same conclusions (pp. 1-263, " Des idees d'esprit et de matiere dans la philosophic de Bacon," " Robert Boyle et 1' idee de nature," " Toland, Pantlie'isticon" "La philosophic de Buffon"). Antiquity, he finds, was dominated by the conception ex nihilo nihil. The charm is broken, and the true doctrine of creation and the ideas connected with it are made dominant by Christianity. With the revolt of the Renaissance, "Naturalism" reappears. Descartes and the French philosophy of the 17th century again restore Spiritualism, which again disappears in the renewed revolt (inspired by English philosophy) of the 18th century. This time Naturalism displays its frightful practical consequences in the French Revolution. After " the unbridled Materialism of a second Renaissance," the 19th century, at its dawn, was to see again "a philosophy that should take care to harmonise itself with the necessities of practice, and should not disavow the fundamental notions of common sense ". In Evolutionism the Naturalism of the present day philosophy has again fallen under " the magical and deplorable empire of words ". For what are Nature, Evolution and Matter 1 Sunt verba et voces (p. xcv.). Among the "mono- graphs," the analysis of Toland's Pantheisticon (pp. 85-196) is not without interest. The following passage, however, with some historical basis, reads rather curiously : " Toland, qui, dans la redaction de son Pantheis- ticon, s'etait certainement inspire des traditions magonniques fort anciennes en Angleterre ; Toland devait aussi, par cet ouvrage me"me, contribuer sans doute a la diffusion de la Franc-Maconnerie, qu'en 1725 introduisit en France lord Dervent- Waters (sic). Et en effet Pantheistes et Francs- Ma$ons ne sont pas sans se rapprocher par plus d'une affinite" (p. 172). Toland's controversial style, according to the author who qualities his ideas as " chimseras," " politically intolerable," " pernicious and miserable diversions" " va jusqu'a 1'invective ". M. Nourrisson is, he tells us, "de ceux qui exigent qu'on attache un sens precis aux termes qu'on emploie ; qui veulent que les idees que ces mots expriment soient claires ; qui surtout demandent aux faits, dans tout ordre de connaissances, la verification des theories " (Preface, p. i.). After this claim to accuracy, it is disappointing to find Kepler's laws, Galileo's observations with the telescope and Harvey's discovery ' of the circulation of the blood all assigned to the 16th century (p. 4). L } Education du Caractere. Par ALEX ANDRE MARTIN, Charge clu Cours de Pedagogic a la Faculte" des Lettres de Nancy. Paris : Hachette, 1887. Pp. 377. By " character " the author understands " the sum of the qualities that are presented by two out of the three great faculties of the human soul, the sensibility and the will". Modern education, he holds, assigns too much importance to the intelligence and too little to the character ; and one purpose of his present "course of pedagogy" is to make practical sug- gestions for the improvement of moral education in the home and in the school. Two chapters (iii., iv.) are devoted to consideration of the influence of heredity and of physical temperament on the character ; but first M. Martin compares the optimistic theory of Rousseau and the theory of " theological pessimism" as to the natural character of children, deciding that the last is nearer the truth. Children have no natural morality ; " the conception of duty as a categorical imperative " being for a long time above their reason. " The natural inclinations of childhood " are divided into three classes : " those that are indifferent from the point of view of
