LITERARY NOTICES. 



851 



1739 and 1740 ; the original advertisements, 

 and a critical index by the editor ; the latter 

 intended, in the language of the preface, to 

 " point, not loudly but unmistakably, to any 

 contradictions or inconsequences and ... to 

 any omissions of importance." This valuable 

 index occupies thirty pages of fine print. Al- 

 together, the present edition is a credit to all 

 who have been concerned in its preparation ; 

 and no inconsiderable service is done to phi- 

 losophy by thus calling attention again to 

 the great importance of Hume in the devel- 

 opment of philosophical thought. 



The "Treatise of Human Nature" was 

 finished by Hume when he was scarcely 

 twenty-five years old ; and its final compo- 

 sition occurred in the village of La Fl^che, 

 in France, where his philosophical prede- 

 cessor, Descartes, was educated. The result 

 of its publication, in England, was, to use 

 the author's own language, that "it fell 

 dead-born from the press, without reaching 

 such distinction as even to excite a murmur 

 the zealots." It was not till his 

 js, Moral and Political," were pub- 

 lished (1741-1748), and achieved notable 

 success, that any measure of attention was 

 bestowed upon the " Treatise " ; and indeed 

 the significance of the latter in the history of 

 philosophy was not made manifest till the 

 world became acquainted with Kant's " Cri- 

 tique of Pure Reason," which was first pub- 

 lished at Riga in 1781. 



This relation between Hume and Kant 

 can be studied to advantage in the Introduc- 

 tions to Hume's works by the late Prof. T. 

 H. Green, of Oxford, who was the leader of 

 the Hegelian coterie of that institution. These 

 Introductions are now accessible in a sepa- 

 rate volume (Longmans, Green & Co., 1885). 

 If Green's statements were limited to the 

 English experiential school, before the doc- 

 trine of evolution appeared as a factor in 

 philosophical thought, they would not stand 

 in so much need of correction. As they are, 

 however, they do need correction ; but, never- 

 theless, they exhibit tolerably well the true 

 position of Hume as the precursor of Kant. 

 The former marked the close of an epoch, 

 that of the course of thinking of which 

 Locke was the progenitor. To Kant's mind 

 Hume demonstrated the necessity of a new 

 point of departure and a new method. This 

 invests the " Treatise of Human Nature," his 



most important work, with a peculiar inter- 

 est. To use Green's language, but with a 

 less wide application of the terms "old" 

 and " new " ; the " Treatise " and Kant's 

 " Critique " " taken together, form the real 

 bridge between the old world of philoso- 

 phy and the new. They are the essential 

 ' propasdeutik,' without which no one is a 

 qualified student of modern philosophy." 



The reader who desires to learn some- 

 thing more about Hume will do well to pe- 

 ruse the little volume entitled "Hume," of 

 the Blackwood series of " Philosophical 

 Classics for English Readers," written by 

 William Knight, LL. D., Professor in St. 

 Andrews University. This book gives both 

 a good biography of Hume and an outline of 

 his philosophy, a great deal in small com- 

 pass ; though, as in the case of Green's 

 works, the reader of Knight's volume must 

 be on his guard against a strong bias ad- 

 verse to Hume's philosophy, and indeed to 

 that of the English experiential school gen- 

 erally. 



Down the Great River : Embracing an Ac- 

 count OF THE Discovery of the True 

 Source of the Mississippi, etc. By Cap- 

 tain Willard Glazier. Philadelphia : 

 Hubbard Brothers. Pp. 443-t-liii. Price, 

 $2. 



In this book Captain Glazier relates the 

 story in full of his journey, in 1881, by 

 the aid of an Indian guide, " across coun- 

 try," from Brainard, Minnesota, to " Glazier 

 Lake," south of Itasca Lake, and his deter- 

 mination of it as the real source of the Mis- 

 sissippi River. The journey was made first 

 to Leech Lake, which is on one of the main 

 affluents of the upper Mississippi, and is the 

 seat of an Indian agency, and thence up a 

 chain of lakes and portages, through a terri- 

 tory of which very little if anything was 

 definitely known, to Itasca Lake ; around 

 Itasca Lake to the largest stream flowing 

 into it ; up that stream to " Glazier Lake," 

 and around that lake till the author was sat- 

 isfied that nothing important was likely to 

 be found above it. Thence Captain Glazier 

 descended in canoes, through all the wind- 

 ings and the lakes of the main stream of the 

 Mississippi, and down the river *o its mouth ; 

 the whole of this journey being performed 

 in one hundred and seventeen days. He 

 claims that his is the only party that has thus 



