LEIBNITZ LEICESTER 325 tension, till they lose every material property. Hence his doctrine of monads, as the simple active elements of things, the veritable, living atoms of nature, the immaterial, indivisible, and final forces of the universe, uninfluenced from without, but continually changing by an inward principle. All monads contain an in- ward energy by virtue of which they develop themselves spontaneously ; they are all different from each other, each having peculiar attri- butes; all are, properly speaking, souls, being endowed with perception, though those which compose material objects do not possess apper- ception or consciousness ; all are independent of each other, each having its own means of development, and forming a microcosm or living image of the whole universe. In every monad might be read the world's history from beginning to end, each of them being a kind of deity (parvus in suo genere deus). God is the absolute, original monad, from which all the rest are generated ; the primitive and neces- sary substance, in which the detail of changes exists emanantly. Hence follows another doc- trine of Leibnitz's philosophy, that of prees- tablished harmony. The dualism of Descartes is rendered unnecessary by the reduction of mind and matter to the same essence, the for- mer being represented by conscious and the latter by unconscious monads. But these two classes of monads are wholly unlike, and exert no influence on each other. To explain their relation, therefore, Leibnitz reverts to the original constitution of things as perfected by God himself, who, he maintains, has so harmo- nized all the monads of which the universe is composed, that they work in complete unison in order to accomplish the end for which they were intended. This harmony is not only pre- established by a divine decree, but is produced by virtue of the very nature of monads. In one view every volition of a rational agent finds in the constant procession of physical forces a concurrent event by which it is exe- cuted; and in another view, the monads of the human system and of the outward universe are so accommodated to each other, each being a representative of all the rest and a mirror of all things, that each feels all that passes in every other, and all conspire together in every act, more or less effectively in proportion to their nearness to the prime agent. Hence the harmony between all the parts of matter, be- tween the future and the past, between divine decrees and human actions, between the reign of efficient and that of final causes. The transition from these principles to Leibnitz's doctrine of optimism is easy. Evil is a neces- sary condition of finite being. The existing universe is one of innumerable possible uni- verses, each of which would have had a dif- ferent measure of good and evil. The present was made actual, because it presented to the Divine Intelligence the smallest degree of the latter and the largest of the former. Meta- physical evil consists simply in limitation, and moral evil is permitted only for the sake of a greater ultimate good. It follows that he main- tained the doctrine of philosophical necessity as the only kind of liberty consistent with the preestablished order of the universe. The want of a logical and connected statement of the philosophy of Leibnitz was supplied by his disciple Wolf. Leibnitz was of medium stature, of a spare but vigorous frame, was accustomed to eat much and drink little, regulated his meals by his pursuits and not by time, usually studied far into the night, sometimes sat by his desk almost without rising for months, sleeping in his chair, liked to converse with all sorts of people, and was never married. He wrote very little in his native language, his important treatises being either in Latin or French. His philosophical works were edited by Erdmann (Berlin, 1840). The collective edition by Pertz comprises altogether 12 vol- umes (Hanover, 1843-'62), consisting of Ge- schichte, prepared by Pertz himself (4 vols., 1843-'7) ; Philosophic, by Grotefend (1 vol., 1846) ; and Mathematik, by Gerhardt (7 vols., 1 849-'62). See also Foucher de Gareil's (Euvres de Leibnitz, from original documents, with an- notations (6 vols., Paris, 1859-'65 et seq., the whole to comprise upward of 20 vols.), and the complete edition by Onno Klopp (6 vols., Hanover, 1864-'72 et seq.}. The best biogra- phy is by Guhrauer (2 vols., Breslau, 1842; with additions, 1846). This is the basis of the "Life of Leibnitz," by J. M. Mackie (Boston, 1845). Compare Schelling, Leibniz als Denker ; Hartenstein, De Materm o ; pud Leibnitz Notitione ; Helferich, Spinoza und Leibniz, oder das Wesen des Idealismm und Realismus ; Feuerbach, Darstellung, Entwick- elung und Kritik der Leibniz 1 schen Philosophic (Anspach, 1837) ; Zimmermann, Leibniz und Herbart (Vienna, 1849), and Das Rechtsprin- cip lei Leibniz (1852) ; Kvet, Leibnizerfs Logik (Prague, 1857); the writings relating to his works by Bonifas (Paris, 1863), Thilo (Berlin, 1864), Summer (Gottingen, 1866), and Jacoby (Berlin, 1867) ; Durdik's Leibniz und Newton (Halle, 1869) ; and Leibniz' 'sche Gedanken in der Naturwissenscliaft, by Du Bois-Reymond (Berlin, 1871). LEICESTER (anc. Ratce), a manufacturing town of England, capital of Leicestershire,' situated near the centre of the county, on the right bank of the Soar, which is here crossed by three ancient bridges and a handsome mod- ern one, 87 m. N". N. W. of London ; pop. in 1871, 95,220. It has a Latin school, an insane asylum, an orphan house, a school of design, a philosophical society, a mechanics' hall, a mu- seum with Roman antiquities, a theatre, a pub- lic library, and 54 places of worship, of which 11 belong to the established church. The sta- ple manufacture is cotton and worsted hosiery. It is the centre of a great agricultural and wool- raising district, and fairs are held for horses, cattle, and sheep 12 times a year. Under the Romans as well as under the Saxons Leicester
