LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1872. 



459 



in Nature. The one party raise, as J. C. 

 Fischer, a " cry of pain from sound common- 

 sense " against the " instinct " that Hartmann 

 supposes. The other party, like Bahnsen, in 

 his remarks on Hartmann and Hegel's "Phi- 

 losophy of History," deny that there is any 

 rational development. Whatever one may 

 think of Hartmann's own system, he has un- 

 doubtedly reviewed philosophy when it was in 

 danger of passing out of notice. Lectures, like 

 Lazarns's " Psychological Glance at our 

 Time," Strumpel's " The Concept of Causali- 

 ty, and its Place in Natural Science," Bon a 

 Meyer's speech, in which the Frankfort phi- 

 losopher is severely censured, and " Schopen- 

 hauer as a Man and a Thinker," are proofs of 

 the reawakened interest felt in philosophy. A 

 thick volume, "Philosophy in Outline," by 

 Adolph Steudel, " A Critical History of Ms- 

 thetics," by Max Schasler (which, as Hegelian, 

 stands in contrast to the first history of the 

 subject written, that published by Robert Zim- 

 mermann in 1858, which belongs to the Her- 

 bartian school), and the ingenious attempt of 

 the psycho-physicist, Feclmer, to apply the ex- 

 perimental methods of physics to aesthetic, are 

 worthy of notice. A masterly notice of Trend- 

 lenburg, by Bonitz, appears in the Transactions 

 of the Berlin Academy. The queer book of 

 the philologist Nietzche, which celebrates, in a 

 cloudy, mystic fashion, " the birth of tragedy 

 from the womb of Music," thanks to Richard 

 "Wagner's " Nibelungen," and " Tristan," and 

 " Izolde," by Beelzebub casts out devils. 



Of works not referring to the present time, I 

 may mention the twenty-second volume of 

 Ranke's collected works, which contains the 

 " History of England in the Seventeenth Cen- 

 tury." Not even the trumpet flourishes at 

 Versailles have induced the most objective of 

 all historians to turn his eye from the past to 

 the present. Eberty's " History of the Prus- 

 sian State," a well-written work, but not 

 founded on original researches, has reached a 

 sixth volume, which comprises the period from 

 1806-1815. It will not be easy to supersede 

 Hseusser's classical work on that time. The 

 more modern history of Austria is too recent 

 to admit of impartial treatment. Still, the 

 third volume of the history since 1848, which 

 treats of the accession of the Emperor Francis 

 Joseph, is now known to be the work of 

 Freiherr von Helfert, Under-Secretary in the 

 Concordat Ministry, and has caused a sensa- 

 tion, as the author was one of the half-dozen 

 people who were in the secret of what was 

 going on. 



Art and the history of literature have been 

 enriched by Freiherr von Alten's edition of 

 the correspondence of the Duchess Amelia of 

 Saxony with the painter Tischbein, and by the 

 printing of Goethe's letters to the philologist 

 Eichstadt, who was editor of the Jena Journal. 

 The latter complete the picture of Goethe, by 

 showing his supervising activity losing itself 

 in what was small and personal. The corre- 



spondence of the "Frau Rath," Catherine 

 Elizabeth Goethe, nee Textor, has this year, 

 for the first time, been completely collected, 

 and furnishes a charmingly fresh "picture of 

 life in the imperial towns. Unfortunately, the 

 celebrated " Je suis la Mere de Goethe," the 

 reply she is said to have made to Madame de 

 Stael, turns out to be a myth. The two ladies 

 never met. 



The most important book comes last. A 

 book like " The New Creed and the Old," by 

 David Strauss, could not have appeared in the 

 days of "German Christianity." That the 

 author dares, without much periphrasis, to 

 ask the question, "Are we still Christians?" 

 of course in the dogmatic, not in the moral 

 sense of the term, and to answer roundly, 

 " No," without being shut up in a fortress, is 

 a proof that the Germany of to-day is not the 

 Germany of earlier times. 



GREECE. In Neo-Hellenic literature incon- 

 testably the most important event of the year 

 is the publication of the hitherto unprinted 

 manuscript of a Greek savant of the eighteenth 

 century. " The Hellenic Theatre," such is the 

 title of the work, contains the names and 

 works of five hundred Greek savants, who lived 

 between the time of the capture of Constan- 

 tinople and the year 1804; and will throw a 

 vivid light on the history of Neo-Hellenic 

 literature, and of the modern Greek Church. 



In the sciences auxiliary to history, the 

 learned numismatist, M. Paul Lambros, has, 

 in a dissertation upon an unpublished seal of 

 Pothos Argyros, a personage of note in the 

 history of the Byzantine Empire, pointed out, 

 with characteristic penetration and clearness,- 

 what results history can derive from the pub- 

 lication of Byzantine seals and medals. In 

 another Irocliurehz presents to us for the first 

 time the coins of the Duke of Athens, Guy II., 

 only son and successor of Duke William de la 

 Roche. The Senate of the University has 

 issued the first volume of the Manuscript Cat- 

 alogue of our numismatic cabinet. This work, 

 superintended with great care by the keeper 

 of the cabinet, M. A. Postolakas, has been 

 greatly praised by German savants. 



A young and meritorious writer, M. Politis, 

 has published the first volume of his studies 

 upon the life of the modern Greeks, from the 

 capture of Constantinople to the present day. 

 This volume is devoted to the mythology of 

 modern Greece. It has been crowned by the 

 Council of the University, and at Paris by the 

 Association "pour FEncouragement des Etudes 

 Grecques." 



M. J. Papabuas has published a remarkable 

 book on the Canon Law of the Eastern Church, 

 and M. A. Pararigopoulos an excellent treatise 

 on Successions. In medicine, the work of the 

 learned Prof. A. Anagnostaki, " Contributions 

 to the History of Ocular Surgery among the 

 Ancients," deserves the attention of foreign 

 savants. In theology, the Archimandrite An- 

 dronicos has printed at Leipsic, under the 



