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 WM. CALDWELL, Schopenhauer' s System, etc. 245 considers that this new aristocracy is in process of formation, and that liberty will perish under its iron heel. He believes, and rightly, that the rule of an official caste, if it ever becomes a reality, will differ as much from what socialist theories contem- plate as the ' ' rich and proud ecclesiastical hierarchy of the middle ages differed from the groups of poor and humble missionaries out of which it grew". The only hopeful outlook for society in Mr. Spencer's view is the federation of the highest nations for the purpose of maintaining peace. The formation of the peace-main- taining federation would provide the conditions by which men may adjust themselves to each other and to their surroundings. This process of adjustment is at present being perpetually hin- dered by anti-social conflicts. Until these conflicts cease the final stage of evolution, consisting in an equilibrium between inner faculties and outer requirements, will not be attained. Mr. Spencer sees more clearly than any other thinker of eminence in the present generation that there is an irreconcilable antagonism between the growth of militancy and the march of human progress. It is to be hoped that his opinions on this sub- ject will produce an impression on the public mind. His profound remarks on the characteristics and tendencies of bureaucracy are equally valuable and opportune. In fact, the whole volume is replete with wisdom and suggestiveness. It amply maintains Mr. Spencer's reputation as the most influential living thinker in the English-speaking world. ^ r -^, , W. D. MOBKISON. Sclwpenhauer' s System in its Philosophical Significance (Shaw Fellowship Lectures, 1893). By WM. CALDWELL, M.A., D.Sc. Edinburgh and London : Blackwood & Sons, 1896. Pp. x., 538. THE author, who has left Scotland, logic and metaphysic, to fill the chair of moral and social philosophy at North-western Uni- versity in the State of Illinois, presents us, in this bulky but well-printed volume, with the expanded outcome of his Shaw course and other series of lectures, in the shape of several philo- sophical essays. Each chapter, except the first and last, which are general in character, deals with some leading aspect of Schopen- hauerism. Each chapter, at the same time, is intended to some extent to reflect the system as a whole. The result of this method of procedure is that while each chapter is almost microcosmic in its relative independence of the rest, the book, as a whole, suffers from a want of clearly-felt organic continuity, as well as from a great deal of reiteration. The reader, however, whether persever- ing or not, will not fail to be favourably impressed with the digni- fied sagacious spirit in which Professor Caldwell has combined wide and deep criticism of a philosophy which, on the face of it,