New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-01

remedy the dscOrd In that universal harmony
which he imagined. But his real trouble lay
In the fact that II lowered the dignity OF the
SOUL as ne thought, to use II In explaining the
details of the phenomena OF plants and AMI
mails Besides, II the life principle of an anil
NAL is immortal, why not that OF plant also
Naturally, he hesitated even to mention such az,
alternative Nevertheless. when his interlocu-
/ tor admitted feeble and slow perceptions In
oysters and musses Lebntz gladly claimed
the same for plants. and 1t was here that he
| most clearly announced his theory OF evolu-
tlon
Considering that the passage was written al
most two centuries ago. at time when the dis
covery OF germ life had just opened a li'tle the
veil over the science Of the future, Leibnitz
vague anticipations are full OF interest. with
all that could be said as to perception In plants
and animals man was still differentiated ne
thought. by the power OF reflection which ne
possessed Yet when he Is reduced to state OF
lethargy, reflection and consciousness cease. lie
Is then little better than brute or plant but
the innate and acquired faculties ana dlsposi-
TONS and even the impressions which are re-
Ceived in this state OF confusion, do not cease on
that account and are not effaced. though they
are forgotten. They will even have their turn
one day in contributing to some notable result,
for nothing is useless In nature; all CONFUSION
must develop itself: the animals even having at
tanned to a condition OF stupidity perhaps Mr..
Langley might have found better word than
stupidity ought some day TO return 10 percep-
lions more elevated; and since simple substances
always endure we must NOT Juuge Oh e'erhI'!
by few years"
Those obscure impressions below the level OF
consciousness which Leibnitz here tacitly COM
Of n
great role in his philosophy. They are too small
to be separately distinguished. and even united
their activity is inarticulatc. like the noise OF
waves Nevertheless in them lies the explana-
ton Of the harmony Of the soul with the body. |
and Of the fact that two souls nor indeed. any
other two things exactly alike. but allied to
each other in an unbroken series Underneath |
ell the fragmentary suggestions Of Leibntz there |
Is the certainty that the real course OF his !
thought led from the thing which he aimed at
Like the mathematician that he was, he began
with that which was TO be proved; and Ike the
man Of endless reading that he vas, his first
was an eclecticism which should take
the best from all sides. and, to use his own
words, unite Plato and Democritus. Aristotle
erd DESCRIBES, the scholastlcs with the moderns,
theology and ethics with tire reason" Being a
man OF affairs like Cicero, he might have ended
as Cicero did, q mere eclectic. more neXlDle
and elegant style OF writing than he attained
would have tempted him 10 remain the echo Of
other mems thoughts. But he not shallow
enough to think that a true philosophy can be
attained by methods that suffice for encyclo-
paedia- There Is in his Monad "Reminiscences
II Democrtuss Atoms. of Platonc Ideas, of
Aristotle's Entelechies. Of Spinoza's Substance
md of Descartes's Infinite Self-caused Being. but
his Renaissance is not nrtifcally put together
L is vitalized by Leibnitzs own thought which
demanded in unity an infinite variety. and
Iuired. above all. metaphysic that would ac-
'Ount for the origin Of the laws Of nature I'm
principles superior to matter" while at the same
inc accepting the fact OF observation that
verythins takes place mechanically In matter"
deast he was, and persistent as he was in
he search for mathematical instead OF expert
mental proof he still insisted on the need of in
essant external observation, or what he called
he search for analogies. PLANTS insects and
he comparative anatomy OF animals" he added,
will furnish them more and more. especially If
Till more than we have done Nothing inter- ,
sting 10 man was foreign TO his mind. II he
imagined that his theory of the universe included
II these interests. or that his system OF harmony
xated "the divine projections beyond what we
ad dared to think" this simply because
nth him philosophic research began and ended I
! the thought of Divine Being. $