purpose only, that we accept these causes. . . . Things-in-themselves are the merest chimeras, taken up on no ground whatever. Never have any terms more 'extraneous and fanciful found their way into philosophy" (p. 390). These sentences seem to me to contain contradictions in themselves, and they certainly are in direct opposition to the doctrine of mediate perception stated above.
There are many other points in this volume which invite criticism, but I have only space to refer briefly to one or two. "Idealism," he tells us, "obedient to the impulse given in this direction by Kant . . . was carried rapidly forward to its most complete and elaborate expression by three brilliant thinkers, working one vein of thought in close dependence on each other" (p. 427). And yet, a little later, he condemns idealism "because there is no continuity in its successive stages, no conquered territory in its several positions" (p. 454). After the previous statement, how can the criticism apply? Here is another statement that passes comprehension: "Constructive realism asserts with idealism the prior comprehensive quality of fundamental ideas, but it avoids that illusion of idealism, things-in-themselves, the uncertain shadows of transcendental notions which serve only to perplex and confuse our vision" (p. 509).
This book is interesting, and at the same time humiliating, because it represents what was taught less than a generation ago in so many colleges of our country under the name of philosophy.
Teachers of philosophy have long felt the need of a good text-book of the history of modern philosophy. A manual was desired that might serve as a counterpart to Zeller's masterly Grundriss zur Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie. By publishing his Geschichte der neuern Philosophie in 1886 (second edition in 1892), Professor Falckenberg satisfactorily supplied the want, and placed in the hands of German students, at least, a compendium excellently adapted to the needs of the beginner. In this treatise he gives a clear and accurate exposition of the essential thoughts of the different philosophical systems, beginning with Nicolas of Cusa, and traces the course of their historical development. Mention is also made in the text of the chief works of the philosophers under consideration as well as of the more important and more modern treatises concerning them. In this way the student receives a choice bibliography without being overwhelmed with the titles of books most of which are
