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PHILOSOPHICAL PERIODICALS. 437 reason, an element of fundamental and irremediable absurdity. Irony has the same principle as pessimism. In our days of social and moral dogmatism, irony constitutes a useful counterbalance, and should be welcomed by all the intelligences which strive to be disinterested.] Dr. Rogues de Fursac. ' De 1'avarice : essai de psychologic morbide (fin).' [Studies especially the egoistic sentiments and the conduct of the miser in its relation to the external world, to the management of his estate, and to morality. The author's conclusion is that avarice tends towards the progressive restriction of the whole being, towards the decrease of the individual, the social and the family life, and is, on this account, profoundly immoral.] Notes et Documents. Dr. J. L. B. ' Sur 1'inhibi- tion exercee par la pensee sur la tonicite et les reflexes musculaires.' Analyses et comptes rendus. Revue des Pdriodiques etrangers. No. 3, Mars, 1906. Fr. Paulhan. ' Le Mensonge du Monde.' [Existence is subjected to two universal laws : the law of systematisation and the law of evanescence : by this latter word is denoted the disappearance of a system which, through its own improvement and completion, has ren- dered itself useless. Contradiction lies in the very heart of things. Existence supposes both systematisation and opposition. Lie being a systematisation which covers and conceals a disharmony, it appears to be representative of the general life of the world, not only of that of the societies and the individuals, but also of the physical and chemical systems, of the molecules and atoms. The profoundest and most general characteristic of the world may thus be summed up in this phrase : the universal lie. These ideas and some of their consequences are in the paper presented in an almost schematic form, but the author's purpose is to develop and justify them in a series of books.] F. Pillon. ' Sur la hilosophie de Renouvier.' [A critical account of a recent book of M. G. leailles on this subject. While holding fast to the fundamental prin- iples of the neo-criticism, M. Pillon admits some of M. Seailles's ob- jections, and indicates what modifications should be introduced into enouvier's doctrine in order to give it a perfect logical coherence.] Ch. Ribery. 'Le Caractere et le Temperament.' [In determining and classifying the temperaments, we must start from the consideration of the nervous system ; this method is the only one which is in conformity with the data of present science. But we have been till now in the heroic period of the science of character ; we have studied it in a literary, rather than in a scientific, way, and we should now limit ourselves to more positive inquiries.] Notes et Documents. Vte. Brenier de Mont- morand. ' Hysteric et Mysticisme : le cas de Sainte Therese.' [Shows, by a careful examination of the arguments afforded on both sides, that it remains doubtful whether Sainte Therese were hysteric or not. M. de Montmorand's opinion is that the same doubt is to be had about most of the other orthodox mystics.] Revue Critique. J. Segond. ' Le moralisme de Kant et 1'Amoralisme contemporain.' [The recent work of M. Fouillde on this topic is analysed, and his refutation of both the metempirical moralism (except in so far as Fouillee's criticism concerns some of the neo-criticist theories) and the Nietzschean amoralism is approved as fundamentally sound.] Analyses et comptes rendus. Revue des Periodiques etrangers. With the March number is issued in a special number of 156 pages the third list of contents of the Revue Philosophique (from 1896 to 1905). No. 4, Avril, 1906. CK Compayrc. ' La Psycho- logic de 1' Adolescence.' [A critical notice of the recent book of G. Stanley Hall on Adolescr.nce. The work is a powerful and suggestive one, unparalleled for the richness of information, and it prepares the way to new inquiries on a most fruitful and important subject ; but the critic. 29