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 it more painful and acute. At the present time, when we have barely escaped from the epoch of scientific systems which elaborated, from ascertained phenomena, universal principles and immutable dogmas to explain the laws of the universe, whether in a spiritualistic or a materialistic sense, we are entering upon a period of real scepticism, differing widely from the dogmatic or negative character of its predecessor.

The progress of the positive and experimental sciences has demonstrated the insufficiency of every metaphysical explanation of the universe. Nor has the accurate establishment of the phenomenon provided any sure datum wherefrom to ascend to its cause, or to learn the nature and essence of the things of which it is a manifestation. The crude phenomenon, we are told, does not exist for us, because we have to verify it through our little internal world of affections, volitions, and previsions. It