Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/289

 RECENT FOREIGN LITERATURE. 277 among the nations she who has striven to teach man how to be useful and agreeable to his fellows, to render possible both the inner and outer per- fection of man, to show him how to order, to discipline, to create ; if France wishes to continue to play such a part, she must return to those human, just, and clear conceptions that once charmed the intelligence of the world. The late Alfred Fouillee left certain manuscripts in an envelope endorsed, ' Book to be published after my death/ It has just appeared as 'Humani- taires et libertaires au point de vue sociologique et moral: etudes critiques,' and contains much that is worthy of serious attention. Fouillee demonstrates among other things that 'rien se perd, tout se propage,' in the realms of thought. Numbers of people who have never even heard the names of a Descartes, a Voltaire, or a Rousseau, unconsciously are moulded by their philosophical influence. The most striking essay is one in the appendix on 'Le rapprochement des races au point de vue sociologique/ The author arrives at the conclusion that new forces are growing and con- spiring in favour of peace. Those forces, however, are not religious, but international and ethnical. The social and economic life of the present day mainly depends on science, industry, and economic relations ; it is extended to objects ever increasing in number and importance, and embracing the most diverse races. In fact the ' idees-forces ' now being spread over the whole surface of the globe are identical, and lead different minds in the same direction ; thus the future is not to any particular v u