the careful analysis of contents is a commendable feature of the book. We confess to some repugnance to a philosophical work which appears anonymously and with a fancy title, but we hope that students will not be led by this to neglect such an earnest and careful study of metaphysical problems.
To one who has compared the present volume at all carefully with the complete works of the philosopher whose doctrine it is designed to give in substance, it is suggestive both of the possibilities and of the inevitable limitations of a volume of selections. Whether such books are calculated to promote sound scholarship, is a question which each succeeding volume of the series here represented will help to answer.
The selections are preceded by two brief introductory chapters, one on the "Life and Writings" of Descartes, the other on "The Philosophy of Descartes and its Influence." These treat only of the salient points of the philosopher's life and doctrine, and very properly leave it to the teacher to direct his students to the histories of philosophy for further information. The book is also provided with a bibliography and an index. As Professor Torrey states in his preface, the translations are made, with one exception, from the French text of Cousin's edition of Descartes's works. The extracts from the Principia are translated from the Latin text of an Elzevir edition of the Opera Philosophica, Amsterdam, 1677. It will be thought unfortunate by many that, in all cases except the one just indicated, the translator has neglected the Latin text. It was certainly proper to translate the Discours from the French, since that was the original text, but the Latin translation is somewhat important, since it was revised by Descartes himself and in some passages changed from the original. But whatever reasons there might have been for using only the French text of the Discours would seem to hold for using only the Latin text of the Meditationes, in the case of which work the conditions were exactly reversed. Very likely the translator might acknowledge this, and yet justify himself on the ground that the French edition of Cousin is the complete edition most readily procurable. Indeed, considering that this volume is intended for beginners, it may be that Professor Torrey has chosen the less of two evils; for certainly no volume of selections should be used where the complete text is not at hand for constant reference. The translations read very well, and seem
