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 550 NEW BOOKS. hardly safe to go at present. Still two inferences are perhaps safe ; the first that the spiritistic interpretation put upon phenomena like these by the observers first confronted with them was by no means the part of gratuitous folly, and that, so far from having a right to contemn the spiritists, science in reality owes them a debt of gratitude for drawing attention to facts which were displeasing to n powerful combination of diverse prejudices ; the second, that between the ex- tremes of uncritical superstition and dogmatic prejudice the critical methods of the Psychical Research Society form the mean path which leads to truth and comprehension. And it speaks volumes for Prof. Flournoy's tact that in spite of the bias against spiritism to which he very candidly and properly confesses (pp. 388-391), he should have found it possible to work harmoniously with those who have taken the trouble to discover the phenomena whose scientific recognition is in question. If only the same could be said of all who are psychologists by the grace of some academic institution ! F. C. S. SCHILLKR. Socrate. Par CLODIUS PIAT, Professeur a 1'ecole des Cannes. Paris : Felix Alcan. This is the first volume of a series entitled " Les grands philosophes," and it is written by the general editor, Dr. Clodius Piat. The prospectus of the series shows that it will be essentially Catholic in character. Apart from that, it is based on the view that there are in the history of philosophy certain dominating theories theories ma'itresses each of which is pre- pared by a long series of efforts, and each of which embodies a fundamental idea. This, once it is known, gains an imperishable influence. A volume is, therefore, to be devoted to the initiator of each of these theories. ;>nd its chief aim will be to exhibit the " radiation " of his influence through the past and the future. The series is not intended to be " popular " ; but the technical language of philosophy is not to be "abused," the object being d'humaniser de rechef la plus humaine des sciences. This will surprise those who imagine that Catholic teaching is indissolubly wedded to scholasticism. The present volume gives us an opportunity of judging how the general editor conceives his task. To begin with, as might be expected of a writer who has had more than one work crowned by the French Academy, he has given us a fine piece of prose. It is no vulgar writer who can make a sentence like this : " Lorsqu'on pousse la philosophic socratique jusqu'au di'terminisme, c'est qu'on fait 1'histoire d'autrui avec ses propres idt-es " (p. 163) ; or this : " La plupart de leurs V,nus sont inconscientes ; et c'est pour cette raison qu'elles n'excitent pas les sens ; 1'absence de pense'e leur tient lieu de pudeur " (p. 172). The excellence of the style makes it the more to be regretted that Dr. Piat shares the inability of his countrymen to spell Greek names with any degree of correctness. To English eyes at least, such things as Chronos (p. 6), Me'nalippe (p. 13), Synope (p. 22), le Cosmos d'Amipsias (p. 73), are blemishes. Also, it is not convenient to refer to Plato by means of " Ed. Tauchnitz, Leipzig, Coming to the matter of the book, we are glad to find that Dr. Piat is free from the prejudice that Socrates was a self-taught genius who was only influenced by the great intellectual movement of the preceding age through his polemic against the Sophists. We are apt to forget that the Socrates we know best, the Socrates of Plato and Xenophon, is a quarter of a century older than that other Socrates who was pilloried by Aris-