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j. T. MEEZ, A History of European Thought. 419 life of man and mankind, I do not think I should have deemed it worth while to write the following volumes : for it is really their main end and principal object to trace the co-operation of many agencies in the higher work of our century ; the growing convic- tion that all mental efforts combine together to produce and up- hold the ideal possessions of our race ; that it is not in one special direction nor under one specific term that this treasure can be cultivated, but that individuals and peoples in their combined in- ternational life exhibit and perpetuate it.' The essential unity of thought is not to be exhibited after abstraction from any one of its manifestations, or after abstraction from human interests and from the historical process of thinking. The philosophical conceptions under which Mr. Merz has worked appear more plainly in the following lines : ' Many may now think it premature or altogether impossible to try to combine the detailed studies of modern science and modern history with the comprehensive view demanded by philosophers and poets, or to grope through the labyrinth of ex- ternal phenomena and events to their underlying significance and unity. ... I propose in the sequel to test within narrower limits, and by what seems to me a novel method, the validity of the con- viction that a true understanding of phenomena and events can be attained only by viewing them in their interdependence and collec- tive effect. If anything in the wide expanse of physical and mental life deserves to be considered as one and indivisible, it is surely human thought in its various branches and manifestations. . . . Comparative anatomy teaches how from a few surviving links to construct the whole framework of an organism. I propose to apply a similar method to the small portion of mental progress of which I have been able to take personal notice and of which I have felt the immediate personal influence. A tracing as concisely as pos- sible of this comparatively small portion of the course of European thought may be the first approximation to more accurate delinea- tions, which themselves will be the means of gradually gaining a truer idea of the purport and significance that belong to the larger dimensions of the mental life of mankind.' The last words of the Introduction may also be quoted : ' The interdependence of all human interests will reveal and explain what truth attaches to Hegel's celebrated doctrine of the inherent dialectic of ideas, the spontaneous development of thought,' a note which, it may be expected, will have large influence on the work. The limits of this notice have necessitated the treatment of the Introduction as a mere preface to the book ; it is really much more ; it is an essay covering much ground and written with a living style. All students will look forward to the completion of this work with grateful expectation. GEORGE SANDEMAN.