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 444 NEW BOOKS. present series of " lectures " the author does not attempt to set forth in its entirety his metaphysical still less his philosophical doctrine, but only gives the preliminaries ; his chief object being to clear the ground by show- ing that metaphysics (in the older sense) may go forward as securely as any of the special sciences, since it needs only the same kind of constant revi- sion of methods, naturally determined by their actual application to the appropriate subject-matter, and not a complete criticism of them before any application at all is attempted. Such a criticism, for the rest, is impracti- cable and even self-contradictory. The subjects of the lectures are : (1) The Problem of Metaphysic ; (2) Metaphysic, Vernunftkritik, Science of Reason; (3) Being and External Feeling ; (4) Being and External Intuition ; (5, 6) External Perception as Feeling, Intuition and Thought ; (7, 8) Being and External Perception; (9-11) Internal and External Perception ; (12, 13) Being and Internal Perception ; (14) Things-in-themselves ; (15, 16) The Notion of Being ; (17, 18) Formal Determinations of the Notion of Being ; (19) The Intuitive Content of the Notion of Being ; (20) Metaphysic and Philosophy. Ueber Materie und Geist (Zur Verstandigung} nebst einem Arihang uber chn Darwiiiismus. Von Dr. ADOLPH STEUDEL. Stuttgart : A. Bonz, 1885. Pp. 58. This book consists chiefly of citations of the opinions of various modern German writers on the nature of mind and matter. The author's principal object is to refute materialism. His "Appendix on Darwinism" is directed against Haeckel. In Dr. Steudel's opinion, the theories of natural selection and sexual selection are equally groundless, and have "raised so much dust," simply because of the attraction anything materialistic has for " the unthinking many" ; "in a short time " they will be heard of no more. Epikur. Seine Personlichkeit und seine Lehre. Eine Monographic in popularer Fassung von JOSEF KREIBIG. Wien : Halm & Goldmann, 1886. Pp. 50. A sympathetic sketch of the personality of Epicurus and his philosophy. The introductory section (pp. 7-21) gives an account of the fortunes of Epicureanism in ancient and modern times and the estimation in which it has been held. The system of Epicurus is then described under the heads of Logic, Physics and Ethics. At the end there is a defence of the Epi- curean doctrine of happiness as distinguished from that of Aristippus. Geschichte der neiieren Philosophic von Nikolaiis von Kites bis zur Gegemcart. Im Grundriss dargestellt von Dr. RICHARD FALCKENBERG, Privat- dozent an der Universitat Jena. Leipzig : Veit, 1886. Pp. viii., 493. This history of modern philosophy aims at holding a mean position between Windelband's Geschichte and Ueberweg's Grundriss; that is to say, it is to keep close to the words of the philosophers expounded and to be less literary than the former, while it is less bibliographical than the latter. The author seems to have succeeded very well in combining the merits of both modes of treatment. His exposition of philosophic systems is read- able as well as careful ; and his bibliography is very full and exact. Ch. L (pp. 14-56) is an account of the period of transition from mediaeval to modern philosophy. This is taken as extending from the middle of the 15th to the middle of the 17th century ; Nicholas of Cusa opening the transition-period, Descartes the properly modern period. The remainder of the book is divided into two parts, the first of which (cc. ii.-viii., pp. 57-242) deals with the period from Descartes to Kant, the second