194 DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 



Christofer Jacob Bostrom, that Plato of 

 the North, sO often misunderstood by 

 his contemporaries, or at least more 

 known on account of certain possible 

 deficiencies in his system than because 

 of its imperishable merits. 



Idealism and materialism have hith- 

 erto stood as two absolutely incom- 

 patible contrasts and the fierce battle 

 that continuously rages, even in our 

 days, between the two world-concep- 

 tions can, according to common notions, 

 only be brought to an end through the 

 complete defeat of one of the parties. 

 We have endeavored to show that both 

 these philosophies have common defi- 

 ciencies, but that each of them pos- 

 sesses an essential part of truth. We 

 cannot deny idealism the merit of hav- 

 ing looked far deeper into the nature 

 of things and phenomena. While ad- 

 mitting this we cannot be blind to the 

 fact that this philosophy has left at 

 least one fact of nearly overwhelming 

 importance totally unexplained. If it 

 be true that the soul is the essential 



