Notices respecting New Books, 463 



why a study of the work in question seemed necessary at present, 

 what he considers the relation of Kant's Metaphysic to Physical 

 Science, and in what manner Kant's Philosophy has been judged 

 by History. As regards the first point, it may well be asked where 

 could a philosopher more happily fitted for the task be found ; and 

 as regards the second, it is most interesting to learn the extent to 

 which the Professor's own life-work has been influenced by the 

 Critique. As regards the fourth point, the translator says : — 

 " Metaphysical truth is wider than physical truth ; and the new 

 discoveries of physical observers, if they are to be more than 

 merely contingent truths, must find their appointed place and 

 natural refuge within the immovable limits traced by the meta- 

 physician. It was an unfortunate accident that gave to what 

 ought to have been called pro-physical, the name of metaphysical 

 science ; for it is only after having mastered the principles of meta- 

 physic that the student of nature can begin his work in the right 

 spirit, knowing the horizon of human knowledge, and guided by 

 principles as unchangeable as the pole star " (p. xxxii). Prof. Max 

 Muller, notwithstanding his great authority, will get few natui'al 

 philosophers to agree with what he here lays down. On more 

 than one occasion that which the metaphysician has pronounced to 

 be impossible has been that which the physicist has accomplished. 

 For instance, as was pointed out by Sir John Lubbock in his 

 Address as President of the British Association (p. 29), Comte 

 laid it down as an axiom regarding the heavenly bodies, that " ISTous 

 concevons la possibilite de determiner leurs formes, leurs distances, 

 leurs grandeurs et leurs mouvements, tandis que nous ne saurions 

 jamais etudier par aucun moyen leur composition chimique ou 

 leur structm*e mineralogique." That was in 1842 ; and now, in 

 1882, there exists an elaborate science of Solar and Stellar Physics 

 due to the method of Spectrum Analysis. Just above the place 

 quoted, Professor Max Muller asks, " But how can any one who 

 weighs his words say that the modern physiology of the senses has 

 in any way supplemented or improved Kant's theory of knowledge? 

 As well might Ave say that Spectrum Analysis has improved our 

 logic." It is evident that Spectrum Analysis would have been 

 capable of improving Comte's logic. If it be objected that Comte 

 was not a true but a false metaphysician, we quote in reply what 

 Professor Max Muller states at p. xxi: — "Even Comte, ignorant 

 as he was of German and German philosophy, expressed his satis- 

 faction and pride when he discovered how near he had, though 

 unconsciously, approached to Kant's philosophy." The majority 

 of scientists will probably fail to see any misfortune in the name 

 metaphysical, but, on the contrary, hold that a theory of knowledge, 

 to be of any value, must be dictated by the exact and natural 

 sciences ; that such a theory may dictate back to the sciences, and 

 they may re- dictate to it ; and that it is only by a mutual develop- 

 ment of this kind that either can be made to approach perfection. 

 Professor Noire, in his Introduction, traces the course of 



